Deth, Come Near Me
by Electric Muse
Summary: Murderface's bass playing hasn't exactly been on par lately. Offdensen decides to call him a teacher. But does she have the strength to stay in Mordhaus while dealing with not only Murderface, but all of Dethklok? OC x Offdensen. Third Person POV. Chapter 12 up!
1. Background and Arrival

Okay, a heads up. This is TOTALLY a love-driven fan fic. I am totally infatuated with the Dethklok boys, and I'm not afraid to admit it. My character is probably something of a Mary-Sue, but I'll try hard to make her more than just a that.

I've also been writing a Watchmen fic, and it's just plain depressed me. On the other hand, Metalocalypse is funny, smart, lots of fun to watch, and a ton of fun to write about. So forgive me for a couple clichés. I'm writing this for fun, and I hope that whoever reads this, has some fun with me.

Please enjoy!

- - - - - - - - -

**Deth, Come Near Me**

**Canto One: Background and Arrival**

Dolly Codling decided that she would string her own bass on the day of her tenth birthday. And from that day on, she was a self-sufficient person. She took care of herself most of the time, after her father left their family for his beautiful, 25-year-old Swedish mistress. Dolly's mother had gone to pieces after that, and the 11-year-old girl had removed herself from her mother's motherly tutelage. She paid close to no attention to the woman, since she spent the majority of her days bashing her father. And her four older brothers did nothing to help. They hated their father just as much as their mother did.

Dolly enjoyed visiting her father and his other family. By the time she was 16, he had had 2 beautiful children, a little boy and a little girl. Dolly loved his new wife, Helene, much more than she did her own mother. And she spent a lot of her time with the woman and her kids, if not only to get away from her disjointed, dysfunctional family.

Though, when Dolly turned 17, Helene decided that she would bring her family back to their roots, back to Sweden. And of course, Dolly was crestfallen. She had hoped to live with her father's new family, but she couldn't just leave her country. The USA was a terrible place sometimes, but it was her home. Helene and Dolly's father promised the girl that they would send her things from Sweden and keep in contact with her as much as possible.

She thanked god that they kept their promises. They sent her trinkets and memorabilia and letters and pictures and the like. Dolly had it all sent to her oldest brother's apartment rather than the home that she shared with her mother, since her mother would probably just tear everything up and set it on fire.

The year after that, the day after her 18th birthday, her mother was hounding her oldest brother, James, about the Dethklok cover band that he had wanted to start up. She told him that he was worthless, like his father, and all he wanted to do was play and mess around until he died. She was always like that with James, since he was the one who looked the most like their father. She started picking on him when he was 17, 6 years older than Dolly.

After her outburst about the band that he wanted to create, James went silent, and walked into his grandfather's room. He came out with the old man's pistol and pointed it at his mother. Unfortunately, Dolly was in the room. The girl hurled herself in front of her mother as the gun went off, and a chunk of her arm was gone. James, surprised and terrified that he had shot his own sister, turned the gun on himself.

Her mother insisted on a low budget funeral.

At the funeral, Dolly's three other brothers and her mother weren't the only people at the funeral, much to her mother's discomfort. James had been a very popular, sweet, kind person. It was only when Dolly's mother saw a young woman kiss the dead James' hand did she start crying.

And in her grief, she paid no attention to Dolly and her arm wound. Neither did Dolly. She assumed that since it had gone numb she was safe...

Dolly was 23. Living in James' old apartment, she spent her time playing bass in her brother's various bands, since none of them seemed to want to play bass guitar. She didn't care to have a love life, though she had tons of great friends. Being in so many bands made it easy to meet people, and she kept in touch with all of them as she could. She still stayed in contact with her father and Helene and their kids, and she had been planning to go visit them in Stockholm when she had some time to herself.

But a call from her brother stopped her Swedish dreams in their tracks.

___________

Murderface always hated band practice. He always felt left out, and all it made him think of was how _worthless_ he really was.

Skwisgaar had his fantastic guitar solos that made all the women bend over for him. Toki was Skwisgaar's second hand man, whether he wanted to admit it or not. The boy would always be there for him. Nathan was the lead singer, so he was automatically the leader and the most visionary of the group. That was just the role that front men took on. And Pickles was the underbelly, the beat keeper, the go-to guy. You could go to him for anything from general advice to worldly wisdom, as long as it had something to do with drugs or music.

And what was Murderface? The bassist. Whose bass was mixed out of most of the tracks, anyway. He was vestigial. And as he thought about it during practice, he just kept playing while the rest of them stopped.

"Murderface." Nathan growled. The bassist didn't hear him.

"Murderface!" Still nothing.

"MUURDERFAAAACE!"

"What isch it?!" The bassist yelled back.

"What are you doing to your strings?"

"... What'sch that schupposched to mean?"

Nathan nodded at his instrument, "I can hear the strings slapping the back of your bass. What are you doing?"

"I'm playing asch I uschually do, Nathan. I don't know what you're hearing." Murderface replied stubbornly.

"Huuh... Just pay more attention to what you're doing."

As Murderface checked his bass, Nathan walked over to Skwisgaar and whispered to him, "Keep an eye on him. I don't think he knows that he's fucking up."

Skwisgaar nodded, and they returned to practicing. The Swede did as he was told, and being the amazing multitasker he was, found it easy to play his guitar and pay attention to Murderface's playing at the same time. And he found the problem quickly enough. The bassist's wrist was torqued forward, making him pull the strings out instead of up, thus, the strings slapped back against the bass.

After practice, Nathan and Skwisgaar complained to Ofdensen about it, how Murderface's bad bass playing was getting to them. Ofdensen just sighed, taking off his glasses and pinching the bridge of his nose.

"I think he start taking uh... lessons." Nathan said, "'Cause... I don't want to deal with his bitching."

"I agree, Nathan." Ofdensen replied, replacing his glasses, "I'll get someone by tomorrow."

"Great. Awesome. Uh... Good." Nathan ended awkwardly, and walked away.

Ofdensen looked at Skwisgaar, "Unless, you would want to teach him, Skwisgaar?"

"I haves better tings to dos den teach a hardass like Murderface." The Swede scoffed, turning and following after Nathan.

Ofdensen looked at the wall for a moment, thinking over what he could do in the situation. He could do one of a few things: One, he could hire a professional. But knowing Murderface, he would hate the guy and end up either stabbing him or beating him over the head with a bass. Two, he could hire a _cool guy_ who Murderface would most likely not dislike, but the guy would probably have some elaborate scheme for sneaking into the band as the new bassist or something.

Or three. He could hire a girl, and that choice would branch off into two sub-choices: Three-A, a really nice, sweet girl who could sort of play bass well enough to teach Murderface to the point where he wouldn't annoy his band mates any further. Or Three-B, he could get a total bitch who got the job done and got in done right.

As soon as he returned to his office, he made a phone call...

____________

"I'm... what now?" Dolly questioned her brother, Hunter.

He sighed, "You've been asked to teach Dethklok's bassist proper bass technique. Is that so hard to understand?"

"Erm... A little. I mean, he's _Dethklok's bassist._ Why would he need help?"

Hunter shrugged, "Fuck if I know. But hey, they'll be paying you a _lot_. Oh, and mom gave me this to give you."

Dolly rolled her eyes and took a letter and a box from Hunter's hands. She set the box on the table and tore open the letter.

_Dolly,_

_Do your dear mother the favor of taking pictures in Mordhaus while you're there. I will love you all the more if you do this for me._

_Your loving mother,_

_Molly~_

Dolly sighed, "Is she kidding...?"

"Just do what she asks..." Hunter groaned, leaning back in his chair, "You know how mom gets if you don't do what she wants..."

"I can't wait until she dies." Dolly mumbled, and she was telling the truth. Hunter was always thinking the same thing, as were their two other brothers. Hunter and Dolly were the youngest, Hunter being two years older than Dolly. They weren't really close until James died, though. After that, they became best friends.

Dolly stood up and stretched, "So when do I leave?"

___________

"Murderface, your instructor will be in here in about ah, an hour. Shouldn't you, ah... be getting ready?" Ofdensen raised an eyebrow at the bassist, who was at the moment, stretched out on the couch eating a soggy looking sandwich. There was a bucket of beans at his feet, and unfortunately, it looked like his feet had been _in them_.

"No." He replied simply, tearing at his sandwich.

"I ah, did go to great lengths to find someone that you wouldn't hate, Murderface. I think it's only reasonable that you—"

"How could you find schomeone I don't hate?! I hate everyone!" Murderface exclaimed, effectively dunking his foot into the bucket of beans, "And I never agreed to taking _lesschons_ from some dildo teashcher!"

An idea popped into Ofdensen's head, and he replied eloquently, "Your band mates came to me with concerns about you. They feel like you're taking away from the band by not being at the ah, _top of your game_, so to speak."

"Scho... The bass mattersch? I have an infuensche?!" The bassist stood up with a new vigor, "I will take their challengshe, good schir. And I will _fuck these lesschons up the assch!_"

"Ah... Good, I guess." Ofdensen walked off, slightly bewildered.

Approximately an hour later, the doorbell to Mordhaus rang. Most of the band was in one of the main rooms, specifically the one with the hot tub, thinking up ideas for the next album. Murderface, meanwhile, was in his room, attempting to look better. Anyone else would have said that the attempt was all for naught, but when Murderface walked out of his room his band mates were surprised to see how much better he looked.

He had shaved, for the first time in ages. There was no crusted over vomit on his clothing. He _didn't_ have his knife in hand. It was quite a surprise to the band. Skwisgaar even stopped his perpetual guitar playing to stare at him with the rest of the band. Ofdensen joined Murderface on the way to the door, a couple Klokateers at his back just in case things got violent.

The Klokateer guards pulled the large doors open, and Murderface cleared his throat...

"Are you kidding me?" The bassist said, staring at the person who was going to be his _instructor_, "Shche's a chick! Chick's can't play bassch!"

The woman scowled, "Excuse me _sir_, but I assure you, _girls_ can play bass just as well as boys can." She pulled her bag further up her shoulder and muttered, "Fucking sexist..."

Ofdensen cleared his throat, "Ah, Murderface, this is Ms. Dolly Codling, and yes, she will be instructing you in your bass playing from now on."

"I thought you schaid you went to _great lengths_ to find schomeone I wouldn't hate!" Murderface yelled.

"I guess I failed then." Ofdensen replied offhandedly, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. He turned to Dolly, "I'll show you to the guest room." The girl nodded and, leering at Murderface, pranced after Ofdensen.

Murderface groaned. He was just glad that they wouldn't be passing by the main room; the good guest room was on another floor. What would his band mates say to a _female_ bass teacher? Knowing them, they would probably just make fun of him and then tell him to _go practice_ while they recorded.

Murderface scowled. He would show them. He would beat the teacher at her own game.

________________

"Okay, Murderface..." Dolly said, tuning her bass to the famous Dethklok "Drop C" tuning, "Show me what you can do. Play the bass line to... I dunno, Blood Puke."

The bassist grumbled as he stood up and started strumming. Dolly didn't say anything as she watched him. He sounded alright, but one of the most common faults that bassists had, was tone and technique. Most of them had such a big hang up about 'standing out' since they were always held back, that they only succeeded in looking good on stage and failed at playing.

This was kind of the case with Murderface, but she could also see one other thing. She too, noticed the torque in his wrist and the slapping strings. Dolly gave up all her preconceptions about Murderface, and smiled. He really was a good bass player, and she respected that. She could tell that he had never taken a lesson in his life though, and that was something that she decided she would fix.

"Not bad, dude." She said, and stood up next to him, "Can I fix a couple of things though?"

Her smile threw Murderface off. He hadn't expected her to be a nice person, at all. He had expected to be fighting her all the way, and somehow get something out of the classes. But as he nodded his head and she took his hand in hers, cold shivers shot down the bassist's spine, and he just barely heard her instructions.

"... So try not to lean your wrist out, okay?" She said, moving away from him and crossing her arms, "Try the first few measures of the song again."

Murderface did as he was told, and he was surprised to find that the slapping was gone. The way that she had situated him was uncomfortable and unnatural, but he did sound better. She smiled a toothy smile, "Good job, Murderface! You're a fast learner. If you keep going like this, we could be done with this lesson ten minutes early."

Murderface found that he didn't have to say anything through the entire lesson. And even with his lack of words, he managed to make Dolly laugh a couple times. When she would go on a rant about one thing or another, he couldn't help but notice the way her sea green eyes shimmered when she was fired up about something, or how strands of her messy almond hair would get caught in her lips, shining with a half assed coat of lip gloss. She had on a pair of army pants that hid a well-toned ass that Murderface ogled whenever she would bend over to do something. Her black wife beater left just enough to the imagination.

"Uh... Thanksch for the, uh... lesschon..." Murderface mumbled when the two-hour lesson was finally over.

Dolly smiled, "Not a problem. I enjoyed doing this a lot more than I thought I would. Everyone said that you would be a complete dick, but I see that they were wrong. You're a cool guy, Murderface. I'll see you tomorrow, alright?"

"Yeah okay..." Murderface had never been one to be nervous. But around this woman, who was so strong in her own compassionate, caring way, he felt nervous as hell. And weaker than he had ever been. But it was a weakness that he _enjoyed_... No way would any of the guys find out that his teacher was a chick if he would help it.

Dolly started to walk to her room, but halfway there she decided against it, and wanted to see what Dethklok ate on a daily basis. So she looked at the directional chart on the wall and went off to the kitchen. Hunter had told her that there was a rumor of some grotesque being living in the kitchen, but she thought that maybe it was just some failed cooking experiment.

She finally found her way to the kitchen, and was slightly amazed to see that it _wasn't_ covered in blood and _didn't_ have animal heads and pelts up on the walls. It looked normal, if not a little on the morbid side. There didn't seem to be anyone there, but an intoxicating smell was coming from further into the kitchen. Curious and unafraid, Dolly walked in further, her hands stuffed into the pockets of her army pants, heels clacking on the hard floor.

She soon came to the source of the smell: A _huge_ pot of amazing smelling Lobster Bisque. Dolly's mouth watered as she stared into the bubbling pot of overly fatty soup. It looked luxurious enough to take a_ bath_ in...

"Taste of the soup, and it will be your head." A voice came from behind the stove, and Dolly jolted. The man... If you could call it a man, was hideous. He had scars covering his face, and no doubt the rest of his body, and stitches that ran along the scars, even though they seemed superfluous.

"I-I'm sorry..." Dolly squeaked out, "I w-was hungry..."

"Ah, my child..." The man said with a grin that should have been toothy, "I cook for Dethklok, and Dethklok only. You must be a new Klokateer, no? You eat in the galley. Hurry, or they may run out before you have a chance to eat your slop."

Dolly shook her head, "I'm... not a Klokateer. I'm Murderface's new bass teacher. I guess Mr. Ofdensen didn't make that public knowledge, though."

The scarred man looked delighted, "Oh dear! Silly me. Here—" He sloppily pulled up a chair, "Since you are not dead yet, I can only assume that the master enjoys your company. And by extension, I enjoy your company." He ladled a spoonful of soup into a bowl and handed it to the girl, "It would be an honor for you to eat my soup."

"Oh!" Her face lit up with a smile, "Thank you so much!"

"It is my pleasure, Miss." The man bowed slightly, "If you need anything, my name is Jean-Pierre. Please visit again, dear. Such pretty faces as yours are few and far between."

Dolly smiled kindly, "I would love to visit again..." Taking another bite of the heavenly bisque, she asked, "So what kinds of things do you cook for Dethklok?"

"Ah mon cherie..." The chef sighed nostalgically, "Do you have time?"

She nodded with the spoon in her mouth.

"Then I may be able to get through half of what I serve to my masters..."

________________

Hungry and in need of his alcoholic fix, Pickles the Drummer walked to the kitchens in a half awake stupor. He yawned, in only a pair of pants, despite the fact that it was noon. He scratched his chin, and thought that he would perhaps follow Murderface's example and shave as well. On the subject of Murderface, Pickles' mind wandered to how his lesson must have gone. The bassist came out of it without a thing to say. It was like he in a trance. When he had arrived at practice and started playing, he had done something that he never seemed to do before, unless he was playing with his penis. He was actually _concentrating_. The band took this as a sign that the lessons were going to go well, but Murderface refused to talk about them. He didn't say who his teacher was, if the guy was cool or not, nothing.

With another yawn, the drummer walked into the kitchen and yelled, "Jahn-Pieeerree! I'm hungreee!"

"C-coming master!" The man limped to Pickles, and stood before him, waiting for the man to choose what he wanted to eat.

"Yeuh, uh... Make me... A hat dag and some onion rings. And grab me a battle a' vadka, would ya?" Pickles said, sitting at the table off to the side of the kitchen and swinging his legs onto its surface.

"Of course, master..." The man limped off.

Pickles sighed and leaned his head back, waiting for the sound of knives to pick up... But Pickles' ears perked as the sound of feminine laughter permeated through the air instead of the sound of knives cracking down on cutting boards. The dred-head stood up and followed the sound to the stove where Jean-Pierre stood. There was a girl sitting on a chair near by. She seemed to be laughing at something Jean-Pierre had said, and he seemed kind of embarrassed by it.

"Gourmet food, huh?" The girl laughed again, "I'm sorry Jean-Pierre, but hot dogs and onion rings don't seem too _gourmet_ to me..."

The chef pouted and shook his spoon at her, "You have too many hang ups about what you think gourmet cooking is. You shall see, cherie, I can make _anything_ gourmet. Just like how my masters can make anything _metal_. This is why we get along so well, you see."

The girl smiled and nodded, her shoulder length, wavy almond hair bouncing ever so slightly, "I guess I'll just have to see for myself, then."

The chef gave a sloppy smile, "I guess I won't have to keep making excuses to make you stay here."

The girl smiled sweetly, "Jean-Pierre, I love your food. I'd stay in here until I died if I could."

The chef put a hand to his chest, "Careful child, all this excitement could cause my heart to burst."

"Heh, sorry..."

Pickles watched, but he didn't make his presence known to the pair as he watched them talk. Maybe the girl was Jean-Pierre's... taste tester, or something? She couldn't have been his daughter... Maybe his niece? No, Ofdensen did a background check to make sure he had little to no family. He had no siblings, and if he had no siblings, then he had no way of having nieces...

Who the hell was she?!

Pickles scrambled back to his seat at the table and feigned sleep as Jean-Pierre limped back with his food. He snorted and 'woke up', vaguely thanking the chef before digging into his food. And he found that what Jean-Pierre had said was right. He could make _anything_ gourmet.

After he was done eating, he sat there with his flavored vodka and waited for the girl to come out of the kitchen so that he could ask her whom she was. But even after he finished the bottle, she still didn't come. He hadn't heard her voice in a while, maybe she died...

"'Ey, Jahn-Pierre." The drummer called to the chef as he hobbled past, "Where'd that girl go?"

"I am not sure, master. She left some time ago..." He said, bowing slightly and returning to his cooking.

Pickles left discouraged, taking another bottle and downing half of it before he reached the door. He was on a mission to find out who that girl was. Mostly because he was massively bored and thought that after he knew some about her, he could approach her and ask her for casual sex. A roguish smirk settled onto Pickles' lips as he finished the bottle and returned to his room.

Dolly finally returned to her room and perched herself on the black covers of the four-poster bed. The room felt overly luxurious and much too extravagant, but she knew better than to complain about something as trivial as being _too comfortable_. Pulling her Mac Book onto her lap, she flipped it open and connected to the Mordhaus Wireless. Ofdensen had informed her that the passkey was "Banana". She attempted to ask, but before she got a chance to, Ofdensen shook his head, and said, "It's better than what the boys had wanted it to be originally."

"... Which was...?"

"Dildos."

"Ah. Good change, good change... Thank you, Mr. Ofdensen."

He had cleared his throat and fixed his collar, nodded at her, and walked out of the room. He was a sweet man, a little reversed and clean cut, but he seemed nice.

Opening her media player, Dolly lazily scrolled to her _Silentium _collection, and double clicked the song _Dead Silent._ She halfway sang along, dipping and out of the lyrics as she checked her e-mail.

'_Spam... spam... Viagra, ech, gross... Mm?'_ She clicked on a message from an address she hadn't seen for a while: her mother.

"_Remember to take lots of pictures, my love!"_

And that's all that it said. Rolling her eyes, Dolly deleted the message and crawled over to her bag on the opposite side of the bed. She pulled out the digital camera and leaned back onto the plush pillows, turning the camera on as she did. She took a picture of the ceiling, and one of her door.

"There are your _pictures_, mother." She mumbled to herself, scowling.

_All my hopes are burning  
Like a candle in the wind_

The lyrics floated through her ears, and Dolly returned to her soft singing and began to internet surf. She checked up on Hunter's Dethklok Blog, and of course, he had posted the news of his little sister teaching Murderface how to play bass. Dolly's eyebrows lifted clear off of her face as she read down the _very_ long list of replies.

A couple of them congratulated him at having such an awesome and talented sister. Some of them were violently accusatory, claiming that he was lying for the sake of lying. Dolly didn't blame them; for the first 18 years of his life, Hunter was a compulsive liar. A couple other replies laughed at him, told him he was daft and silly for thinking that he could get away with such a bad lie.

Dolly frowned. She decided that she would make Murderface take a picture with her next time she got time with him. And maybe if she met any of the other members of Dethklok during her time at Mordhaus, she would get them to take pictures with her as well. Dolly smiled at herself and turned on Photobooth to take a couple of ridiculous pictures of herself, just for the sake of it.

She didn't notice the teddy bear underneath the heap of pillows at the head of her bed.

_______________

Toki had lost Deddy Bear. Close to a very _brutal_ mental breakdown for his stuffed friend, but too ashamed to ask his band mates, he scoured Mordhaus in all the areas he had recently been in.

He went to the game room, where Nathan was wracking his brain for song ideas.

No Deddy Bear.

He checked in one of the recording rooms, where Skwisgaar was passed out, his fingers tapping out the notes to a couple song ideas that he had.

No Deddy Bear.

Toki even checked on the patio, near the golf course.

But still no Deddy Bear.

Practically in tears, Toki rushed to the person he knew could get anything done in the shortest amount of time possible.

Ofdensen.

He knocked timidly on the manager's door, and waited. He hoped that the man would be able to help him, he didn't want to imagine a world without Deddy Bear. It had been his first friend's gift to him after he had gotten away from his parents; that stuffed bear was his saving grace.

Ofdensen opened his door, and saw a shivering Toki, his bottom lip caught between his teeth, eyes red and puffy.

"Your bear is in the guest room, Toki." He said before Toki could get anything out. He went back into his office.

Toki blinked. Not caring about how Ofdensen knew what he wanted, how he knew where it was or anything of the sort, Toki scrambled to the stairs. He dashed up, accidently pushing a Klokateer off of the them and making her plummet to her death. But he didn't care.

Finally arriving at the door to the only guest room that they ever used, Toki leaned on the door as he caught his breath. Music floated from the room, but Toki was too exhausted to pay attention to it. He opened the door.

"... Um..." There was a girl on the bed. She looked surprised and confused.

Toki blinked, "Ohs... Um, hallo. I's Toki."

"Hi... I'm Dolly..." The girl cocked her head and got up from the bed, "Do you, uh, need something, Toki?"

"My... my Deddy Bears supposeds to... bes in here. Has you seens him?"

She shook her head, "No, but I can help you look."

Toki broke out into a grin, "Tanks you, Dolly lady!" He captured her in an unanticipated hug, and she awkwardly patted his back. After he let her go, they got to looking for the bear. Toki checked in all the cabinets, while Dolly checked in the bathroom. And after checking in the places where the teddy bear was unlikely to be, they checked the bed. Both of them used similar techniques to remove everything from the bed: they threw things. They threw the pillows from the bed, and there were plenty of those. Toki cried out when an ear popped out from underneath the pile of pillows, and he tackled the bear. Dolly blinked and stepped back as Toki clutched the bear to his chest.

... And he subsequently passed out.

Laughing, Dolly crawled onto her bed and looked at the Dethklok rhythm guitarist. There were beads of sweat lining his hairline, running down his neck. He had probably been looking for his _Deddy_ Bear for a while. She smiled and smoothed his long, beautiful hair away from his face, and pushed a pillow under his head. Though Toki was older than her, he was so much more childish, which was odd for a Dethklok member.

Returning to the Mordhaus Wi-Fi, she logged onto her gazzilions of instant messagers, and noticed a couple of her friends online. Thankfully, one of her best friends, a 25-year-old woman named Maggie, was one of them. And she was the first one to contact Dolly.

_Hey babydoll, how goes _Mordhaus? Maggie teased. She thought that Hunter was lying. She knew him to be a liar, anyway.

_It's fantastic, Maggie! Toki Wartooth is actually sleeping right behind me. He's such a cutie._

_... You're fucking with me, right? How long are you going to drag this out, Dolly?_

Dolly laughed, _Webcam with me. I'll show you how adorable Toki really is._

Less than a second later, she got a webcam request from Maggie. Turning on her webcam, Dolly grinned at her beautiful blond, blue-eyed angel. Maggie waved a bit and signed to show her Toki. Dolly scooted back against the guitarist's body and leaned the webcam down. She was glad that the sound wasn't on as she saw Maggie scream out loud and start screenshotting like a mad woman. Toki groaned and rolled over with his Deddy Bear.

_ROLL HIM BACK OVER!!! _Maggie typed, vicious with fangirlish greed and excitement.

_No can do, sweetie. I have to leave the poor guy alone now. Can you tell Hunter that you're sorry, though? He isn't nearly as big of a liar as he used to be..._

In California, Maggie sighed, playing with a curl of dyed platinum blond hair and typed back with one hand, _Yeah fine. Next time, get Skwisgaar on your bed, kay?_

_No promises~ I'll talk to you later, love you._

_Love you too, bye!_

Dolly switched off her webcam and logged off of all her IM services. She clicked her music back on, returning the song to _Dead Silent_ and turning the sound down. She cautiously leaned onto Toki's back... He didn't wake up. Leaning her whole weight onto him, she smiled and looked back to her computer. She opened a Word file titled **Dolly's Diary**, and started typing for that day's time slot...

_______________

"Damn it, where's Toki?" Nathan rumbled an hour later. Ofdensen had nagged them into a last minute practice, and no one could find Toki. They had called for him over the intercom multiple times, in many different ways. Skwisgaar and Nathan had collaboratively called him a lady over the PA, and since he hadn't come barreling into the practice room to defend himself, they could only assume him dead or kidnapped.

Klokateers were sent out into Mordhaus to check all the nooks and crannies they could for the rhythm guitarist's body. Pickles and Murderface decided to join them, while Skwisgaar and Nathan complained about it in their more uncouth practice room.

"Dood, Murderface." Pickles said as they walked down the hall, "I saw some girl hangin' out in da kitchen taday."

"Wasch sche hot?" Murderface asked offhandedly, not making his brain go far enough ahead to think that maybe Pickles could've been talking about his new bass teacher.

"She was pretty." Pickles shrugged, "I dunno. I'd do 'er." They came to the level where Ofdensen had told them that Murderface's teacher would be staying. Pickles, not one to let an opportunity slip from availability, smirked and walked down the hallway towards the teacher's room.

Murderface broke out into a cold sweat, "H-Hey! Why are we walking down thisch way? Toki wouldn't be here--!"

"We have ta check _everywhere, _Murderface. Might as well meet your teach' at the same taime." Pickles pushed open the door...

"Dood dat's her!" Pickles cried, pointing at the girl, asleep on the bed next to...

"Toki?!" Murderface's face contorted into a displeased frown, "What the hell isch he doing with _my_ fucking teacher?!"

"... Dat's your bass teacher?" Pickles said, "Not fair! I want a pretty teacher!"

From all the commotion, Toki and Dolly stirred. Toki woke up first, and, not seeing Pickles and Murderface at the door, he smiled down at Dolly and patted her head like one would do to a small child, "Hallos sleepys head."

Dolly sat and yawned, "I guess watching you sleep made me sleepy, Toki..." She closed her computer and stood up, mussing out her hair and turning around...

She blinked, "Murderface...? And..." Her favorite Dethklok member stood at his side, a sly smirk on his lips, "... Oh dear... Um..." She smiled a little, "Hello Pickles..."

Before Pickles could reply, Murderface cleared his throat, "Toki, we have rehearschal. Get outta here!" He threw a pillow at the rhythm guitarist, who just laughed, grabbed his Deddy Bear and ran out the door. But not without waving at Dolly first.

Murderface looked at Pickles with a look that said 'I'm attempting to look superior', and said, "We found Toki, now _leave_."

Pickles just rolled his eyes, "Teacher hog..." And he walked off.

Dolly watched the drummer leave with a forlorn look in her eye, "Aw Murderface, you didn't have to do that—"

The bassist scowled at her, "Your _jchob_ here is not to get to know my asschoschiates, Missch. Know your plache." And he slammed the door behind him.

Dolly frowned at the door. She had always been a headstrong woman, no one had ever _dared_ tell her to 'know her place'. She knew her place. It was wherever the hell she wanted it to be. Still, it was infuriating that Murderface thought that he owned her, like the master of a dog. No. She was no _dog_. She took her glass of water and flung it out the window, unknowingly hitting a Klokateer in the head and killing him.

Unfortunately, she was cursed with intelligence. She could see why Murderface wanted her for himself. He wasn't used to being around women, and based on how he had acted around her during their first lesson, he really seemed to like her. He was trying to be possessive over her. But she wouldn't let him; she was no one's possession.

She looked at the clock:

11:32 PM.

She yawned and climbed back into bed, the sounds of Dethklok practicing lulling her to sleep...


	2. Understanding Dethklok

Yay second installment! Sorry it's taking such a long time. I like getting long chapters up in this one, I have a lot to do and say ^^

LunaGoddess: Haha, thank you! I'm so glad that you like it so far!

CleverTypo: Oh GOD no. There will be no marriage in my story at all, actually. And I plan on my character (maybe) having a monogamous relationship with one of the boys. ONE of them... maybe. But not without messing around with the others xD This is a purely exploratory fangirl-type fanfiction.

ShatteredRhapsody: Thank you so much! I'm glad that you enjoyed it :3

**Deth, Come Near Me**

**Canto Two: Understanding Dethklok**

Murderface woke up to the sound of tinkling metal. He shot up, his trusty knife in hand. The sound of footsteps didn't miss his ear as he got up out of bed and pulled a pair of pants on. Stepping quietly across the stone flooring, he moved towards the source of the sound, lip curled in morbid excitement. He really wanted the chance to stab someone, and he hoped this intruder would be that person...

Unfortunately, he couldn't stab this particular intruder.

Dolly ran her hand across the hanging chains, a look of light amusement on her face, her lips slightly parted. Murderface's eyes went from her hand straight to her exposed legs. She was wearing a skirt.

"Hello Murderface." She said without looking at him. The man scrambled to get a shirt on.

"What are you doing here?" He snarled, pulling his novelty Planet Piss t-shirt on.

"I thought we could get started early today, so that you could have the rest of the day for things that you want to do." She glanced at him with a soft smile.

'_Sche's not mad at me...?'_ Murderface thought, puzzled, _'I yelled at her pretty good yeschterday... Maybe sche's forgiven me. Aweschome, no time waschted with her ranting!'_

But he couldn't have been further from the mark. Dolly said that she wanted an outdoor lesson that day. Murderface saw nothing wrong with that, though he had no idea what he was getting himself into. It started out innocent enough; she had him stand on one foot and play a three-octave C major scale, and then the other foot and play that scale's minor.

Toki had seen the two of them walking down the hall towards the doors to the outside, and he couldn't help himself. He had woken the other three up. Pickles shot up without a fight, as he was determined to see this girl in action. She was the first girl he had ever seen to even put up with Murderface's bullshit.

Skwisgaar had initially yelled at Toki for waking him up, but upon hearing _why_ he was woken up, pulled himself out of bed and even put clothing on, which was something unheard of.

Nathan was the hardest. He really didn't care what Dolly did with Murderface, as long as he got better at playing bass. But Toki managed to get him as well, by telling him that they were outside. Even Nathan didn't want to miss what the bass teaching girl would do with Murderface _outside._

And finally, with the rest of the band behind him, Toki walked to the lowest balcony overlooking the courtyard and pointed downwards, "Looks! Der she is!" He pointed to a young girl in a black skirt and a white, button down shirt with a drink in her hand, leaning on her hip.

"But... Where's Murderface?" Pickles scratched his head. They all could hear his bass, they could hear it well. He was doing scales, and lots of them. But they couldn't see him He couldn't have been under the balcony...

Then they saw him, and their days were made.

Murderface came running out of left field, sprinting like dogs were after him. But that wasn't the best part. He was playing the bass _at the same time_. As he ran past Dolly, she yelled out, "Only 10 more minutes, Murderface! You can do it, you piece of shit!" She took a satisfying sip of her rum and sighed contently as she sat down and crossed her legs.

Toki and the rest of the band stared at Murderface as he sweated like a pig, gasping for breath as he ran. They all wondered why he would run for her. Murderface didn't take shit from anyone, so why would he _run while playing scales on his bass_ for this lady?

"You're almost there, Murderface." Dolly called, swirling her drink, "If you slow down one bit, I'm loosing the wolf." She held up a remote control with a single button on it.

It was only then that Skwisgaar noticed the cage underneath the table, "Aaah... Ders ams a wolf... unders dat tables."

"... Whoa." Nathan said, "That chick is brutal. I'm glad I'm not Murderface right now..." The vocalist was silent for a moment, seemingly contemplating something. And he added in a low, mumbling voice, "... 'M glad I'm _never_ Murderface..."

The other three nodded as ten minutes came to a close, and Murderface collapsed to the ground. Dolly smiled and snatched a steak from the table, throwing it in between the bars of the cage underneath the table. The sound of tearing flesh made Murderface's eyes go wide and wild with a look of survival. Dolly walked up to him with that misleading smile, "Really good job, Murderface. I'm proud of you, I thought you would give up half way through."

"If I did you would have turned your fucking wolf on me!" Murderface yelled, still gasping for air.

Dolly laughed, "Legally, I'm not able to do that. And besides, if I ended up killing you, Ofdensen would have my head. He really toned down what I had planned for today, anyway. Smart guy." She downed the rest of the rum, "Ah... You're lucky."

Murderface cursed under his breath as the other four band mates made their way towards them. Dolly turned around to follow the bassist line of sight. She broke out into a smile when she saw Toki coming, but then submitted to an intense blush when she saw the masterminds of Dethklok behind him. Toki hugged her and started babbling about how entertaining it was to see Murderface running around like that. She halfway listened to him. But her real attention was on the other three.

Pickles, Skwisgaar and Nathan. Her brother's heroes. _Her_ heroes.

Pickles looked nothing less than amused as he stood there with his trademark roguish smirk and one hand in his pocket. He was always her favorite.

Next to him, Nathan's arms were crossed, and his eyes were dark and accusing. It was intimidating, and terrifying. But Dolly didn't feel either of those things as she spent a brief moment staring at the behemoth of a man.

And lastly, Skwisgaar Skwigelf looked alarmingly displeased. When Dolly saw him her heart jumped in her chest.

Toki noticed the thick tension between Skwisgaar and Dolly, and gulped.

"Skwisgaars... Ams you mads at Dolly?" He held up the girl's hand, "Don'ts be mads at hers... Shes ams good girl." He used her hand to paw at Skwisgaar. Dolly waved Toki off and looked back at Skwisgaar, who hadn't moved. Hadn't even blinked. It would be very bad if he didn't like her, so she tried saying something...

But he quickly cut her off.

"Why didn'ts yous lets goes de wolf?!" He burst, and she jumped, "Yous gots me all ecs-stiseds to sees Murderface running froms dat ting! Yous a tease!"

Dolly started laughing, "Oh god Mr. Skwigelf, you scared me half to death! I thought you were really angry at me, I'm so sorry..."

"Of course I's angries! I was waitings for Murderface to gets _chased- By-__** De wolf**_!" The guitarist fumed, crossing his arms.

Dolly smiled, "Maybe next time." Dolly walked over to Murderface and offered him her hand, "I wouldn't want to kill my best student on only the second lesson, right?"

Murderface looked at her hand, those creamy, delicate, welcoming appendages, and then looked at his band mates. They were snickering at him. Giving Dolly a dirty look, Murderface pulled himself and his bass up. He brushed himself off and then brushed past all of them, back into Mordhaus.

"Oh, I think I may have hurt his feelings..." Dolly said thoughtfully.

Pickles smirked, "Don't worry about it, Dolly." She smiled to herself when he addressed her; she liked the way he said her name, "We make fun of him all the time. He's used to it."

"If you say so..." She murmured.

The red head drummer slithered his arm around Dolly's shoulder; it was easy enough, she was at least 5 inches shorter than he was. She could've melted in her shoes.

"Come! Talk to us. What do ya like ta do? What're yer interests?"

There was a shine in Pickles eyes that told Nathan that he was planning on getting this girl to sleep with him. And the way that she swooned under the weight of his arm made the vocalist all the more perturbed by the girl. She was there to be Murderface's teacher, not Pickles' sex kitten. He rolled his eyes and followed the group inside...

_________________

A resounding slap made the entire house jump. Even Ofdensen felt it, and he thought that it might've been a gunshot, or a cannon. And the latter was more likely, since it was so loud. The uncommon sound of heels on stone clacked past his office, and he opened the door just to see Dolly turn the corner. He shook his head and reentered his office.

Pickles walked into the band lounge with a large red mark on his cheek. He sighed and plunked onto the couch, a disgruntled look on his face.

Skwisgaar chuckled, "Dids you gets hits by a cannonball or runsed over by an elephants?"

"'Ey, shut up. How was I supposed ta know dat she was serious about _just_ teachin' Murderface to play bass?" Pickles shot back, "She ain't one o' dos random sluts we have sex wit' all da time, dat's for sure."

Murderface laughed, "Ha ha, Picklesch! That'sch one girl that you're _never_ fucking. Sche hasch _morals_ and schit."

Pickles smirked, "Which makes da chase even more fun." He stood up, "I'm gonna go apalagize. Girls like that sweet an' sappy crap."

Murderface frowned, "Sche isn't going to fall for your schit, Picklesch. Prepare for another schlap or two. You descherve it." And he went back to practicing his bass.

Pickles rolled his eyes, stuck his hands in his pockets and walked towards Dolly's room. She would forgive him for making snap judgments and assuming that she was a swooning slut. She was probably an apology slut. Tons of girls had a tendency to slap first and kiss later. Pickles had come across many of those kinds of girls, and gotten what he wanted from them in the end. Even back in his Snakes N' Barrels days, girls were throwing themselves onto Tony and him. They used what they had to get what they wanted, likewise for Pickles. It was a trading game, and sometimes it had to be the "Take Advantage of the Drunken Female" game, but those instances were rare.

Set with what he wanted to say, Pickles came upon Dolly's door and was about to knock...

"No Hunter, I told you, _I'm not going to have sex with Dethklok..._" Dolly's voice filled with tears came through the door, "Pickles tried to get me to do it today, but... Dear god Hunter! Why would I want to throw myself away to some drunken monkey?!"

Pickles frowned, but kept listening anyway...

"... No, he's still one of my heroes... I just... I expected it to be different. I expected to be able to engage them in _intelligent_ conversation about... You know, about music and stuff... I was really looking forward to debating with Dethklok about... _everything_; I was looking forward to being _challenged_ by them. I thought they were really smart and endlessly talented... But I think I was wrong..." She choked back a sob, "I was really looking forward to getting to know my heroes through their words and their music, not because I _slept_ with them..."

And then Pickles felt bad. He had only encountered one of these kinds of fangirls before, and he had felt terrible after he slept with her. There was no satisfaction in it, and it was almost like he had raped her. All those drunken girls before, were drunk only because they knew that they would end up having sex with Pickles. But the girl beforehand, an 18 year old named Mary, she was only there to take care of Pickles, who was drunk. And he had jumped her.

"No Hunter..." Dolly continued, sniffling, "I'm not coming home. I'm making this goddamn money, and I'm helping the person whose the _least_ likely to try to get into my fucking pants... What do you mean _who is that?_ Murderface, who else?"

"That's ah... Nat true, actually." Pickles said as he opened the door.

Dolly jolted and accidently hung up the phone as she did. Growling at Pickles, she turned away from him and said, "I'm sorry, but could you please leave? This is a non-slut zone _only_."

The red head sighed and sat down at the corner of her bed, "Look, I'm sarry, alright? I thahght that... you were only here so that you could have sex with Dethklak."

"You jump too easily to conclusions." She replied viciously, but she didn't attempt to kick him out again.

"... Yeuh, I know dat. Do ya think we could start over? I heard your conversation on da phone..." He smirked, "I've never talked to a _girl _about music. But I'd like to. And if yer brave enough ta threaten ta chase Murderface around with a wolf... I think yer da person I'd want ta talk to."

Dolly looked the drummer over for a couple minutes. She scrutinized him through a translucent pane of psychological glass, and she liked what she saw. Pickles the Drummer was apologizing to her, and her alone. And not because he wanted to have sex with her. But for conversation.

Finally, she smiled, "Alright Pickles... Thank you."

________________

For the next few days, when Dolly wasn't teaching Murderface and Pickles wasn't in rehearsal, one could find the two of them in one of the main rooms, talking to no end. Murderface tended to watch them from around the corner, a ball of jealously the size of his pinky nail starting to twist his insides. She looked so happy with Pickles; the veteran; the _nice guy_. Of course Pickles would be her closest friend in Mordhaus. Of _course_. And he, William Murderface, would still be the student. Watching her laugh at something that Pickles had said, and watching Pickles smirk that disgusting smirk... made Murderface want to kill something.

So when he felt like that, he stole into his room, turned on some loud music, and bashed in the head of his expendable suit of armor with his favorite mace. And even though he _really_ wanted Dolly to be his friend, even though she was one of the few people that he wanted to talk to, he would never be able to tell her. His lack of both self esteem and experience with girls halted him in his tracks. It left him writhing in the dust of guys like Pickles and Skwisgaar. Even Nathan, who was a complete dipshit, had _considerably_ better game with women.

And while Murderface introspectively tortured himself, Dolly was having the time of her life. Pickles was amazing when you got past the libido... Well, she wasn't completely past it yet. She had been forced the slap him a couple more times, but not nearly as hard as she had to the first time. And Toki had visited her with Deddy Bear in his arms a couple more times as well. She had formally introduced him to Maggie, who thoroughly freaked out when she saw Toki waving at her on webcam.

And though Skwisgaar had coddled her a bit, he had started to treat her like a normal human being, sometimes joining her and Pickles in conversation. She really enjoyed his company and his ridiculously amazing accent that you didn't get to hear during concerts or on the CD. She loved having the chance to provoke his random outbursts and then laugh at him behind his back.

The only one that didn't seem to want to open up to her was Nathan Explosion. He avoided her wherever she went, and no matter what she tried to say to him, he didn't reply, he didn't make eye contact, and he didn't pay any attention.

On the day that made her stay at Mordhaus a full week, she was in the game room with Murderface on the computer, Toki playing video games and Pickles flipping through channels.

"Pickles..." She said softly.

"Yeuh?" He munched on peanuts and settled on watching open heart surgery.

"Does Mr. Explosion hate me?"

Pickles glanced at her, an eyebrow raised, "... Why would ya tink dat?"

"He avoids me... He doesn't seem to want to talk to me like, at all..." She mumbled, twiddling her thumbs, "I mean, I'm not trying to _force_ him into being my friend, I just don't like it when people don't like me..."

He shrugged, "Couldn't tell ya. Getting inta Nathan's head isn't my jahb. And he doesn't talk about himself much, anyway. He'll warm up ta ya eventually."

Dolly sighed and laid down on the couch, her arms above her head. She wracked her brain; what could she have done to make him mad at her? The band was rehearsing a lot more often, and it was going quicker since Murderface wasn't holding them back nearly as much... Did he not like her just because he didn't like her? She hated being in those situations. Dolly knew that she had felt that way about some people; sometimes, you just don't like someone because _you don't like them._

Biting her lip, Dolly rolled onto her side and off the couch, "I'll be right back..." Pickles waved without looking at her, staring at the TV as a huge needle went right into the heart.

Dolly walked down one of the many hallways that she _still_ hadn't managed to memorize. She had asked Ofdensen about Nathan's deliberate avoidance as well, and he had said to ask one of the band members. But it sounded like the manager was taking the issue into his own hands, as Dolly heard his voice coming from around the corner.

"... Nathan, that still doesn't answer the question: Is Miss Codling bothering you?" The manager said, "She's noticed that you've been avoiding her."

"No she isn't _bothering_ me..." The vocalist snarled, "I just... She... She uses big words, and it makes me feel like an _idiot_ listening to her... And then I get really _pissed off_ that I can't talk to her like Pickles or Skwisgaar can! I mean, she's just some dumb _girl._ I don't get why I-" He put a hand on his forehead and groaned, "I don't know why I'm so mad..."

"She doesn't consider you an idiot, Nathan." Ofdensen replied coolly, "She thinks that you ah... _dislike_ her."

"I _do_ hate her!" The man exploded, "But... I don't know. My heads hurts." And he walked off.

From around the corner, Dolly hung her head. She couldn't stop herself from being _smart_. She knew Nathan's background: he didn't even finish high school. He wasn't fantastically smart, but for some reason, she hadn't expected him to be stupid. And she was kind of disappointed. But it was an obstacle that she planned on moving around, and conquering.

"Thank you, Mr. Ofdensen..." She murmured as he rounded the corner.

He glanced at her as she smiled faintly. He had known that she was there. He knew everything that went on in Mordhaus, and her movement was monitored closely and relentlessly. He still wasn't sure that she wasn't a spy from some underground unit of sorts. But the smile lowered his suspicions; she was truly sad that she hadn't attained the vocalist's approval.

"He will come to his senses." Ofdensen said, and started to walk off.

But Dolly stopped him with a couple fingers on his shoulder, "There was something that I wanted to ask you—"

The sharpness in the manager's eye cut her off and rendered her silent. The way he looked at her... No. The way that his eyes cut through her was more terrifying than she could ever imagine. There was something deadly, something that had survived countless hardships, behind those eyes.

And then it was gone. He turned back around, "And that is?"

"... I, um, was wondering if it would be alright to go... To the towns nearby..." She said nervously, "Being stuck inside Mordhaus is both a blessing and a curse..."

"Ah, sure. I'll arrange a ride and some Klokateers to escort you—"

"I'd really rather walk... And be alone." She quickly cut him off, "If I'm not treated special by you, Mr. Ofdensen, than no one will think me special."

The manager seemed slightly surprised. He had expected the female teacher to be demanding, have an entire list of things she expected from the manager, and Mordhaus in general. But no, she was humble, and low key. He respected that.

Nodding, he replied, "I am going to give you a gun, though. For safety precautions."

Dolly's eyes widened, "Goodness... a gun? Is that really necessary?"

He coaxed her towards his office with a finger, "Yes, quite frankly, it is. I wouldn't be too worried yet, though. The fans aren't nearly as crazy as they are at releases or when the boys _aren't_ working... We're at a surprising lull in the chaos. This would be a better time than most to go into town."

Dolly nodded, her eyes wide with interest. Ofdensen was definitely a breath of fresh air; the way that he spoke was sugar compared to some of the things that the band said. They both entered into the office, where Dolly stood awkwardly in the middle of the articulate looking room. She felt like if she touched anything, it would break, and then Ofdensen would... have the Klokateers break her, or something.

The manager rummaged through one of the lower drawers in his desk, and came out with a small automatic pistol. He walked over to Dolly and placed it in her hand. She was going to bow out of the room, but he grabbed her forearm and said, "Don't tell me you thought that I'd let you out of this office with a loaded gun and no understanding as to how it works, Ms. Codling."

"... Oh, god, right!" Dolly laughed at herself, "I'm sorry, I totally blanked..."

"No harm done." He replied. He moved behind her, and she became extremely aware of how short she really was. She felt his hand on hers as he spoke to her about the gun.

"First off, the safety..." He manually moved her fingers over the top and the side of the gun, "Is right here. In order for the gun to _shoot_..." He clicked something on the gun, "You need to turn it off."

"O... kay..." The girl breathed, finding it hard to not enjoy the feeling of being in between a lethal weapon and this man.

"And obviously, the trigger is here, barrel at the end, etcetera etcetera... This gun doesn't have much recoil, but don't shoot it with a weak arm. You could still run the risk of fracturing your wrist." He let go of her, "Try it out."

She whipped around, eyes wide, "What?!"

"Go ahead. Take a shot out the window."

Dolly relaxed, "Oh... Alright." She walked over to the large, open window and took a deep breath. The trigger felt so tight, she wasn't sure if she was going to be able to pull it. But as soon as she pulled a little harder, it let off a loud crack. She let out a yelp as she felt the recoil, throwing her slightly off balance, and she righted herself soon afterwards. Her heart was racing and she was hyperventilating, but there was a smile on her lips.

"Oh wow..." She finally exhaled, and turned around to grin jubilantly at Ofdensen, "That was amazing!"

"Don't get _too_ excited..."

She laughed, "I'm sorry, I feel like I really have to try actually shooting someone now... That was too much fun."

"I feel like I've opened an unnecessary door for you, Ms. Codling..." Ofdensen said, slightly amused.

She shrugged, flipping the safety back on and putting the gun in her back pocket, "I may actually have to end up using it, so I'm afraid I must disagree..." She walked back to the door, "I'll be back before dinner is served. Thanks again!" She waved and closed the door. Ofdensen stood there a moment before shaking his head and returning his focus to some unfinished paperwork.

Dolly walked into the main room, where Murderface was watching the Food Network. She rolled her eyes; even _she_ didn't watch the Food Network. She snuck up behind him and wrapped her arms around his neck, "I'm leaving."

"Forever?!" The bassist cried out, turning around in the girl's arms so that they were facing each other.

She smiled and shook her head, "No no, I'm going out to town."

His alarmed expression slackened, and he returned to the TV, "Oh. Well then. I'll schee you later."

"Mm-hm. Bye!" She walked out the door as the bassist waved.

The massive Mordhaus doors opened for Dolly once more as she stepped out into the warm summer air. She pulled the gun from her pocket and stuffed it down into her purse. Would someone arrest her if they caught her with it? If Dethklok came to bail her out of jail, no one would complain. She wondered if Ofdensen would let them do that. Hopefully.

She got the okay from the Klokateers to walk down the road to the gates of Mordhaus. They had put the wolves into cages for the day anyway. The wolf that had helped her earlier that week with Murderface's lesson she had affectionately named Gala, which in Swedish meant Singer. She had gone to that wolf every day since, and given her a slab of meat that Jean-Pierre considered "Unworthy of Dethklok". She wasn't sure if the wolf liked her or not, but she didn't try to attack her as she petted her ears whilst she ate the food. The gates opened up for her, and she was already halfway there. Mordhaus was so huge and overbearing, she found it hard to believe it wasn't it's own country.

Dolly breathed in the summer air and exhaled generously. It was nice to get out of Mordhaus; the air in the entirety of the house got very stale after a while. She wondered if the air constriction did something to people's brains after a prolonged amount of time, and that was why the five boys could be so idiotic.

She shook the thought from her mind as a town came into view. The town looked downtrodden and decrepit, but relatively new. It looked more like an old Indian teepee type town, where everything moved according to the town's source, whether that source is Dethklok or the movement of elk. The people of the town looked exhausted, worn down and irritated, but not devoid of good nature.

Dolly walked up to an older woman and asked her if there was a bar of sorts, and the woman pointed her further down the road, telling her to look for **The Satin Death**_**.**_Dolly thanked the woman and walked down the road. She noticed that as she walked further into the town, things got more and more grotesque. The Satin Death was a red-clad piece of architecture that practically stole your soul as soon as you looked at it. It was Lady Death.

Dolly walked inside. Oddly enough, there were no female employees. She sat down at the bar and looked at the vast sea of alcoholic beverages. The bartender came up to her and smirked, "I've never seen you around here, miss..."

She glanced up at him, "I've never been around here. I'm new to this part of... the world."

"You want me to show you the ropes?" The man said, his pierced lip curving into a smirk.

She looked at him blandly, "No, thank you. You could, however, get me a White Russian."

"It's a start." The man replied, and walked off to mix her overly sweet drink. Whilst he was away, Dolly looked at the people in the bar, and it was anything but tame. There was a girl with a collar sitting on a man's lap. Her lip was in her teeth and Dolly could tell that her short skirt wasn't just to look good. The girl let out a low moan and the man that she was sitting on sunk his fingers into her shoulder. Dolly could tell that he was trying to be_ incognito_ about the public bondage sex, but they were failing pretty badly. Besides, real bondage experts did in on crowded, sweaty, loud dance floors.

"White Russian for the new girl." The man said, putting the creamy drink in front of her.

She smiled, "Thank you."

She sat and drank in silence as she watched the people of the bar. Contrary to the people that she had seen on the street, the people in the bar seemed happy. The bar felt more like a hang out spot than a place for unhappy old men to go drinking. Younger people hung out in The Satin Death, and the bartender boy was just more proof of that. He looked like he was in his early 20s, barely out of puberty, even. He had snakebite piercings, eyebrow piercings, and probably a genital piercing or two. He wasn't bad looking, but Dolly didn't know him, and she didn't really want to know him.

She wanted to get out or Mordhaus in order to _get out of Mordhaus_. Not so that she could meet pierced up bartenders. Another group of kids walked in the door, dressed in black and leather. Dolly thought that they were overdoing it, but who was she to tell them that to their faces?

__________________

Toki wandered the halls of Mordhaus looking for one of the only girls that he had ever considered a friend. He called her name, looked in her room, looked in the game room, but she was nowhere to be found.

"Pickle!" He called to the red head drummer, who was drinking on the couch in the main room, "Where is Dollys?"

The man shrugged, "Hell if I know. She... should be wit' me right now, actually. Where _is _dat girl?"

"Shes is not in her rooms... I's was looking for her. No ones has seens her, neithers..." Toki seemed worried. It wasn't uncommon for Toki to be worried about people being gone or missing; he had a black thumb. Things that he cared about usually just died. Maybe it was bad luck, or maybe he just chose unhealthy people to love.

Pickles shook his head, "I'm sure she's fine." And he added with an evil smirk, "Besides, now we can raid her room."

Toki's eyes widened, "Panties raid?!" It had always been just a myth to Toki: The infamous Panty Raid. But the look on Pickles face was nothing less than truthful, and the brown haired guitarist practically skipped alongside the drummer to the girl's room.

Pickles pushed open the door, "Man, she's trusting. Her door isn't lahcked..." They walked in, and were instantly surprised by the smell of flowery bath soap and deodorant. Both of those smells were scant in Mordhaus. It was a real treat for the both of them as they started looking through the drawers.

"Dood..." Pickles breathed, taking a black sock from one of the drawers. Inside, there were 3 silver, egg shaped objects.

Toki raised an eyebrow, "What ams 'dose?"

"Toki, my friend... 'Dese are called Bullets, and I believe our friend Dolly has a lot of fun wit dem..." Pickles smirked as he flipped the switch on one of them and it started to vibrate.

Toki was confused, but didn't ask any further. He continued the panty raid, but instead found what he believed to be childhood memorabilia. As Pickles amused himself with the "Bullets" as he called them, Toki searched through a music box. The tune that played was a typical lullaby, and it was slightly frightening to Toki. His mother used to sing lullabies to him after his father beat him. They became the soundtrack to his nightmares.

Inside the box, there was a single earring, a picture of a young girl and an older man, and a seashell. Toki picked up the earring and held it to the light. It was a teardrop diamond, beautifully reflecting and refracting the light from the room into rainbows on the floor.

Toki soon realized that he was actually invading Dolly's privacy, and put the box back where he found it. Pickles put the black nylon sock away as well, but put one of the Bullets into his pocket.

When Toki looked at him accusingly, he just shrugged, "She'll never notice. And if you tell, I'll tell her dat you looked in her music bax."

Toki never told her.

___________________

After two hours of sparse drinking and massive amounts of people watching, Dolly finally decided that it was time to go back to Mordhaus. She had actually began to miss the place. Gathering her things, she thanked the bartender, who smiled at her and told her to come back any time. She halfway smiled back and said that she would think about it.

Eager to returned to her room and tell Maggie about the days events, Dolly walked quickly down the street. She noticed footsteps behind her changing to fit her pace, and paused for a moment.

"So, do you, ah... Work around here?" Said her almost stalker. The man looked like he was in his early thirties, with a kind smile, and nice posture.

"Um... You could say that..." She replied awkwardly, not knowing what to say to the man.

He walked up next to her, "Would it be alright if I walked you home? I mean, a lady as pretty as you shouldn't have to walk home alone, especially since it's starting to get dark..."

Dolly was too shocked to say no, "Uh, sure..."

So the two of them walked down the road together. He attempted to make conversation, asked her what she liked and what she did for a living, and she tried to answer as minutely as she could without lying to the man. He seemed nice, it was just odd having some random person walk up to you and start a conversation...

"I'm not really doing anything right now." He said when Dolly asked him to talk about himself, "I've been unemployed, following Dethklok around. I've survived up 'till this point, I might as well keep going."

"Why would you want to follow them around if there's such a high risk that you'd be killed...?" Dolly asked, only half interested as she clutched her purse to her side, ready to whip out her gun and shoot the man in the face.

"Because it's fun, I guess." He turned to her and smiled, "You have really pretty eyes. Is there a... boyfriend, in the mix?"

Was he _really_ asking her what she thought he was asking her?

"Um, yes, actually... She's back where I live."

The man raised an eyebrow, "She? You're what, a lesbian?"

She almost scowled at how disrespectfully he said the word _lesbian_, and lied, "Bisexual leaning towards girls, actually."

"Heh, that's pretty hot. Well, if you ever get over your girl crush..." They came upon Mordhaus, "Gimme a call... Whoa. You live in Mordhaus?"

"Mm-hm..." She was about to move inside, but the man grabbed her arm.

"Hey, give me your number." He said with a smile.

"Um, alright..." He gave her his phone and she punched in her phone number with one digit changed.

"What was your name again?" He said.

"... Dolly." She replied.

"That's with one L?"

'_What a stupid question!'_ The girl fumed inside her head, but answered, "Yes."

Nodding, the man gave one last smile and walked off.

Dolly let out a relieved sigh and looked up at the guard Klokateers. They nodded and opened the gates. Dolly walked in quickly, her feet flying on nervousness and apprehension. One of the ground guard Klokateers walked up to her, "Are you alright, my lady? Do you wish for us to kill that man?"

"... If he comes by asking for me, please just turn him away." She answered, "Or... hurt him or something. I just made a really big mistake..."

"Understood, my lady." The man bowed slightly and walked off to tell the gate guards.

Dolly released her heart from her brain's nervous clutch as she walked back inside, sighing. She walked straight to her room and put away her things... But something was amiss. She felt like things had been moved in her room. Maybe the cleaning person had come early? But it didn't really look any cleaner...

Shrugging the feeling off, Dolly changed into more comfortable jeans and a tank top, opening up her laptop to check up on Hunter's blog. She had spoken to him sort of, and sent him a couple pictures. The one of her and Pickles playing Call Of Duty was up on the blog, and people practically worshipped it. She didn't really like the picture; her tongue was lolling out of her mouth as she concentrated on the FPS game, and Pickles was laughing at something that Nathan had said. It was not a very flattering picture. Murderface wasn't that great of a photographer.

The dinner bell went off, and Dolly pulled her hair up into a messy bun as she pulled on some heels and walked out the door...

Just to bump into Nathan.

"Oh, uh, sorry, Mr. Explosion..." She muttered.

The vocalist grunted something and continued walking. When he saw that they were both walking in the same direction, he felt the tension tighten between them. He didn't know what to say to her, and she didn't know what to say to him...

But then something popped into her head.

"Mr. Explosion?" She said, walking faster to keep up with his longer stride, "Do you know anything about Quantum Mechanics?"

He looked almost in pain. But she had a plan.

"I was at a bar in the town nearby, and there were a couple physicists talking about their theories on Quantum Mechanics." She continued, ignoring the look on Nathan's face, "One of them looked at me and asked my opinion on the subject."

"Oh god..." She heard him groan.

She smiled, "I swear to god, I had no idea what they were talking about. I had never been more confused in my _life_. Really, I wished that they could just shut up and fuck off or talk English like normal people."

The vocalist paused, "You didn't... get what they were saying?"

She shook her head, "Fuck no. Are you kidding? I'm kind of smart, I'll give myself that, but I do not have the ability to understand things like that. And really, I'd rather just stick to the basics. So I talked to the bartender about alcohol. _Much_ better conversation. At least I didn't feel like an idiot, you know?"

She didn't know if he got the implications to the story, but he seemed to feel less stupid around her from then on. They ended up in the dining room where everyone was already eating, and Nathan sat himself next to Murderface and Pickles, while Dolly sat closer to the front of the table next to Toki. The rhythm guitarist smiled at her and she smiled back.

Dinner was pure starch, but it was amazing. Pasta and garlic bread and piles of meat sauce; Dolly had never eaten so well in her entire life. And for the first time, Nathan engaged her in conversation. They all talked about music and life and drinking and there were lots of laughs. Her cheeks hurt from smiling so much, and for the first time in ages, she felt at home. Her blood related family always had dinner in front of the TV, and they never really talked to each other. But having the Dethklok boys talk to her over dinner was a dream come true. Even when Murderface chucked his food across the room. Dolly returned to her room with a smile on her face...

___________________

Charles Foster Ofdensen sat at his desk with one of his favorites types of brandy, a lit cigar in his fingers. It was really the good life. After all the shit that he had put up with in the past, all his fighting, and all his determination: it had paid off. He was sitting pretty as the manager of the biggest economic force in the entire world. And he had everything that a man of his appetites could want.

But at the same time, he was lacking something. When he had come into the job, he had expected Dethklok to listen to him, take his advice. But he learned that they wouldn't be Dethklok if they didn't ignore most of what he said. So he took to the background, and did most things in secret. They didn't know what he was, nor did they need to know.

But the new girl, Dolly Codling, was a little bit of an enigma to him, and he didn't like that. He knew what the members of Dethklok were, knew their likes and dislikes, habits and hobbies. But Dolly was inconsistent with what she was _supposed_ to be. He had expected something of her, and 99% of the time, his expectations were spot on, and met. But she had been almost the flip side.

She was supposed to be a cold bitch that would do her job and expect to be treated like a queen. But she was very far from what he had expected. She was kind, humbled, compassionate and accepting. She had made fast friends of the boys, save Nathan, and had put up with them, further more. She was there to teach Murderface, not to befriend Dethklok. Knowing girls like that, Dolly would attempt to sleep with one or more of them within the next month. She would probably begin to ask for more and more money, and with her sweet disposition and already established friendship, the boys would dote on her and waste all their money on petty material objects.

The thought made Ofdensen purse his lips in displeasure; it was his job to make sure that they _didn't_ waste money, so he would have to keep an eye on the girl. He pressed a button under his desk and a screen opened up on one side of his room. It buzzed to life, splitting into nine screens, each channeled to monitor one person. Five were for each member of Dethklok, and the other four were for various people, in case there were suspicious activities going on.

Dolly counted as a "Suspicious activity".

She was in her room, removing all her clothing minus undergarments. Ofdensen never had a problem with invading people's privacy when they were in Mordhaus; all privacy rights were given up once you started living there. Ofdensen's eyes flicked from Pickles, who was drinking with Nathan in the fireplace room, to Skwisgaar and his endless guitar playing in his plush white room, to Toki, who was gluing parts of his model airplanes together as it seemed like one of them had broken, to Murderface...

Who was masturbating like a drunken monkey. Ofdensen's upper lip twitched as he moved his eyes back to Dolly. She was on her stomach in front of her computer, talking to someone...

He switched on the sound to her room.

"_No Maggie, I'm not having sex with Dethklok!_" She sounded drained, like she had been telling this "Maggie" the same thing for a long time, _"Believe it or not, that's NOT what I'm after..."_

"_You keep telling yourself that, darling."_ The voice, that Ofdensen assumed was Maggie, laughed, _"Just make sure which one you do first."_

Dolly exaggerated an eye roll, and then drastically rolled her shoulder back.

"_How's your arm, Doll?"_ Maggie's voice changed dramatically, from playful teasing to intense worry, _"You don't need to get it fixed again, do you?"_

"_I'm not sure... It's really been bugging me lately, and it's starting to slow down..."_

Ofdensen's eyebrow raised. What in the world was this girl talking about? If there had been something wrong with her arm, then he decided that she should have asked him for help instead of keeping it to herself.

"_I think I may need to get it replaced... I know that it costs A LOT of money, but if I use the cash that I'm getting from this Dethklok gig... Oh, I won't have much left, will I...?"_

Ofdensen was more confused than he had been in a long time. And he watched Dolly closely as she...

Removed her right arm. She _took her right arm off_. She actually removed her entire forearm and sighed contently, _"Much more comfortable to have it off..."_

"_If it's bothering you, you really do need to get it checked out, Dolly..."_

"_I know, I know! But don't you think it would be strange to tell the guys about... my, um, handicap...?"_

"_They ARE the leading cause of mutilation, decapitation, suicide and death in the world. What's so strange about a fake arm?"_

"_They could accuse me of cheating on how to play bass, and kick me out... Then I'd really be messed up financially."_

"_Just tell them, Dolly. And if not now, tell them soon. They're your friends, are they not? They should understand."_

"_Yeah I guess... Ew, I'm bleeding a little. I'll talk to you later, Maggie."_

"_Be safe, sweetheart."_ Dolly hung up the video chat with her friend. Her stump had a metal plate on the end of it and three holes. The fake arm itself had three prongs on the end of it, no doubt to lock into the holes in her arm. One of the holes were dripping blood, and Ofdensen could only imagine that she had worn the arm in for so long, that one of the arm holes had closed up and when she took it out, it opened it up again and caused the bleeding. Dolly raised her stump above her head to pause the bleeding and took a bottle of rubbing alcohol from her cabinet. She poured the chemical into the stump and hissed as it stung.

Ofdensen turned off the monitors, lacing his fingers and leaning his elbows onto the table.

He would have to have a talk with Miss Codling in the morning.


	3. The Right to Bear Arms

Wooow... It's been a LONG time since I've posted a chapter o__o I am so sorry you guys... Life has been mega busy with applying for college, family, school... And stuff like that. But since the Dethalbum II has come out, I've re-found my muse~

Hope you enjoy!

... If any of you are paying attention anymore xD

**Deth, Come Near Me**

**Canto 3: The Right to Bear Arms**

Dolly awoke late, after spending her 19th day at Mordhaus drinking with a couple of the Klokateers that she found interesting. Most of them were normal people, some of them even too normal; but they all shared the same obsession with Dethklok that brought them together. The two people that she had been drinking with were two of the largest and most intimidating lesbians that she had ever met.

Ariel and Fifi were an amazingly butch and beautiful couple, and she had met them on her way to meet Jean-Pierre one day. They were talking and Dolly just happened to be slightly knowledgeable on the subject of their conversation, though the two of them were very intimidating. They noticed her hesitance and laughed, beckoning her over to their company. She gladly joined them and the conversation soon escalated into a couple of drinks, and a couple of drinks escalated into a binge, and the binge escalated into an all night drinking spree. And she awoke with the mother of all headaches at 8:17 in the morning. So she laid there for a while, her knees to her chest as she breathed and groaned... And she soon fell asleep again.

But a quick rapping on her door quickly woke her up. She felt like she had been asleep for a half of a minute. She didn't bother looking at the clock; time became almost irrelevant in Mordhaus because everything was timed and regulated for you. She then understood how the boys could be so brainless and only understood the basics of "Light is day and dark is night". But nonetheless...

"Damn it Dolly, why are you schleeping when we have a lesschon?!" Murderface roared, crossing his arms after he kicked open the door.

She yawned, "Sorry baby doll, I was exhausted. Is it 10 already?"

"Ten fifchteen." The bassist corrected her.

"... Whoops. Sorry, Murderface. I lost track of time." She got out from behind the drum set and the two of them walked out.

They had gotten a lot closer within the time that they had continued their lessons. Dolly had found out about Murderface's Civil War fetish and immediately found it interesting. She had stayed with him after lessons were finished to watch Civil War documentaries and interviews. While the bassist himself had seen all of the DVDs at least 20 times over, he found it endearing to watch it with a girl who was practically a virgin to the subject.

But of course, all good things came to an end, and after the lesson and their typical documentary watching, Dolly pranced off to meet with Pickles. They were practically attached at the hip they spent so much time together. Pickles had started touching her more, often capturing her in a friendly hug or teasingly kissing her cheek. Murderface found it disgusting, since it was still clear that the drummer wanted to sleep with her. But what he didn't seem to notice, was that behind the libido and sexual advances, there was true affection. Pickles had actually started to care for the girl that would argue with him about the value of a musical interval, occasionally beat him in Mortal Kombat, and fearlessly tease him about how he was balding.

Toki too, had become somewhat close to Dolly. She was a strangely mothering presence in his life, and he never really had that. She was a drastic contrast of warmth and laughter and comfort, from his cold, Norwegian mother, who had never so much as mentioned her love for him, if there was any. So he clung hopelessly and indulgently to this girl who would coo at him from across the dinner table about how cute he was, or laugh at the little things that he did without making him feel like an idiot.

Skwisgaar was a different story, though. His relationship with Dolly was less than platonic, and it was clear that he too wanted to sleep with her; probably just to say that he could. But sometimes when she was sitting in the den of Mordhaus, in only a bra and pajama pants, playing bass with a tranquil look on her face and the glow of the fireplace lighting up and shadowing her body in halves... The fastest guitarist couldn't help but stare. His own playing had never _ever_ been so relaxed. Even when he was playing just because his fingers made him, he was tense. But she looked luxurious in her playing; lugubrious and just plain relaxed. It was a learning experience for the guitarist... And it was a voyeurism fetish that had awakened in him just a month before.

Nathan had still been terrified of the way that the girl talked. When she started making less sense to him, he would halfway explode, and then in an embarrassed rage, walk out of the room. He could see that the way that he acted hurt her; he wasn't as stupid as people thought. He could see how she bit her lip and looked at the floor, knowing that she had lost his interest and failed to keep the topic within his understandable range. But as she had started to tone down her language and subject matter, he found that she was just as enjoyable as another guy. The two of them would stay up late and drink whilst watching surgery or the Food Network, laugh at the people on TV and just have fun. He didn't really seem to mind when she would fall asleep on his shoulder, drooling her favorite vodka or the final bit of the beer that he had lent her.

And that was when she saw herself on TV.

"**That's right ladies, there's a **_**woman**_** in Mordhaus!"** The annoyingly primped announcer smiled as a picture of Dolly joining the Dethklok boys in a round of mini golf popped up on the screen, **"And boy, are there some nasty rumors circulating about the nature of this 'Whore' of Dethklok. Some people say that she was brought in as a sexual present to the boys. Others claim that she isn't pretty enough, and must be their personal hygiene groupie. But the staff of the Dethklok minute has come upon the reality of the situation: This is Dolly Codlingson. She was brought in as a **_**personal assistant**_** to the great Skwisgaar Skwigelf. It seems that he has been teaching her something of a guitar technique as well, since our sources say that she can frequently be seen with a guitar in hand. And that's the Dethklok minute!"**

Dolly was fuming, "Those assholes... They don't even know the difference between a guitar and a fucking bass guitar! It's infuriating!" She turned to the blond guitarist beside her, "And no offense Skwisgaar, but I'd never want to be your assistant. God knows there would be a lot more involved than just _assisting_ you."

He chuckled, "You knows it."

"I really wish that they would report actual news..." She mumbled, "Shit, that's not even my real name!!" She took her empty beer can and flung it at the TV.

Pickles snickered, "Ya have ta admit though, what they come up wit' is pretty entertaining..."

She rolled her eyes, "Entertaining for you maybe; you're not being called a slut on television."

He shrugged, "Dey don't have ta, everyone knows ay sleep wit' anything that has boobs."

"Me too." The blond guitarist added in, his fingers at work on the guitar that seemed inseparable from his person.

"... Mrme too..." Nathan grumbled, taking a swig of beer.

Dolly leaned her head back and groaned, scratching her scalp and straightening out the band tee she was wearing as the news came on. Another murder, more kidnappings and a money drive for senior abuse. And yet, nothing seemed to be happening. The toneless voices of the news anchors coupled with their primped and powdered façades gave a sense of uselessness in the information they conveyed. Who cares if the world is ending? Mr. Anchor Man looks good in that suit, so it's really fine.

The Dethklok CFO walked through the door and cleared his throat, "Ah... Miss Codling, I need to see you in my office for a moment."

The girl, with dark circles around her eyes and a seemingly perpetual grimace, looked up at him blankly and in the same tone the boys took on a lot of the time, replied, "What for?"

Ofdensen knew that the group was getting to her. She wore less feminine clothing, completely avoided make-up, and drank... all the time. He answered, "It's private business."

She stood up and yawned, her black pajama pants falling slightly so that you could see the indent of her hip. She pulled them up and walked with Ofdensen back to his office.

"I'm not in trouble, am I?" She asked, crossing her arms.

A couple Klokateers entered the office and stood at either side of the door, and Dolly lost her 'couldn't give a shit' attitude in an instant. Ofdensen cleared his throat and didn't answer as he removed his jacket and glasses, placing them carefully onto his desk in their respective order. He walked over to where Dolly was standing...

And she was quickly on her knees in a backwards wrist grab. Too shocked to do anything, she sat there as Ofdensen unlatched her fake arm. Dolly fell to the floor as he walked back to his desk and looked the appendage over, and all Dolly could do was make weak little noises of surprise and anger.

"So Miss Codling..." Ofdensen's steady managerial voice snapped her out of her shock, "What are you carrying in here? Drugs? Cyanide?" He opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out a scalpel, "I guess we'll find out right now..."

"No!!" She cried, stumbling to her feet, "Please don't, it's really delicate!"

But Ofdensen didn't listen to her, and as the scalpel touched the surface of her fake skin, the pair of Klokateers had to hold her back lest she attempt to tackle Ofdensen to the ground. She felt her heartbeat rise as the blade penetrated her skin and she chewed her lip... The arm didn't bleed, and Ofdensen pulled apart the separated pieces of skin.

There was no holding compartment, no secret alcove, and no fake veins with cocaine running through them. It looked like the entire arm was packed with machinery to keep it moving. There was no room for even an ounce of marijuana. Slightly surprised, both the Klokateers and Ofdensen lowered their guard for a moment, and Dolly took that opportunity to grab her arm and bolt out of the room, embarrassed and humiliated...

Ofdensen told the two Klokateers not to follow her. He sent them out and then sat there... Could he have been wrong? She wasn't the first person to have had a fake limb in Mordhaus, and he didn't put it past her to have been carrying something illegal or deadly. But the inside of the arm looked a lot more intricate and expensive than any other that he had seen... And even though he didn't trust her, he would still apologize to her. Maybe she stashed her stuff in her room...

_______________________

Dolly slammed the door to her room, her breathing heavy and watered down with oncoming tears. Did that just happen? Was she just overtaken and _violated_ by the epitome of "Desk job"? It was too weird to think about... So she sat on her bed and looked at her arm, a long gash down the middle. How was she supposed to fix it without getting weird looks? Chewing on her lip, Dolly reached over the side of her bed and pulled out the sewing kit her mother made her take. She was lucky; the skin was relatively thick so that it wouldn't cut easily. She used her teeth to hold the needle while she slipped the thread through, and used the stump of her arm to hold down the fake forearm. She carefully slipped the needle through the skin at the top of the gash...

"Hey, where'd Dally go?" Pickles asked Ofdensen as he walked back into the room. The man adjusted his jacket and his glasses, looking at the drummer with his cold brown eyes.

Adjusting his glasses once more, he answered, "After we talked she retired to her room. She seemed upset, so I wouldn't suggest disturbing her."

The drummer's brow darkened slightly, "What'd you do?"

"I did nothing, Pickles. She got a message from her someone and it seemed to disturb her, so I let her go."

"... Okii." The red head went back to his show. Skwisgaar and Murderface were both in the room as well, but neither or them seemed to be paying any attention.

"Oh and Pickles-" Ofdensen said as a last thought, "Band meeting in 10 minutes."

"Yeuh whatever." He said, waving the comment off like a fly on his shoulder. He couldn't get his mind off of the girl, though. Over the last few weeks, he had learned a couple things about Dolly. For one, when something upset or disturbed her, she didn't disappear into her room. She talked about it. Pickles spent almost an entire night with her after she saw a puppy get run over, listening to her just babble. Something else had to have happened...

At the band meeting, Skwisgaar strummed away on his guitar, Murderface was picking something out of his teeth with a chicken bone, Toki was waiting attentively, Nathan was brooding, and Pickles was... wary, to say the least. Ofdensen cleared his throat and pushed aside his jacket to reach into his pocket. He pulled out a check and put it on the table.

"That is a blank check from the President of the United States." He said, quickly catching the band's attention, "You boys are allowed to write any amount of money on the check, as well as make any kind of personal requests, if-" he paused for dramatic effect, "- you play at his daughter's prom."

"We's no dance band!" Skwisgaar seemed utterly disgusted by the idea, "Der's not enough money in de world to makes me play a prom..."

"I gatta agree with Skwisgaar," Pickles piped in, "Playing pram is... degrading for a metal band. Hanestly."

"The theme is of your choosing." Ofdensen added in.

Nathan grumbled, "Huuh... Fine. We'll do it." He frowned slightly, "But it's gotta be really fucking brutal."

________________________________

Dolly put on a black long sleeved shirt and hastily put her hair up into a ponytail. She opened her door and tentatively looked out, seeing no one important in the hallway. Stepping out, she made sure her arm was locked back in place and closed her door, walking briskly down the hall. She brushed a couple strands from her eye and started to lightly trot down the hallway, glancing at the map on the wall and taking a sharp right to get the hospital wing... And she was lucky enough to make it there without bumping into any of the Dethklok members.

"Hello...?" She called into the seemingly empty wing. She couldn't see anyone or hear anything, even when she walked up to the desk and looked into the, strangely enough, open door of the "Employees Only" room. She set a hand on her hip and... finally noticed the little bell at the edge of the desk. Shrugging, she tapped her finger at the top of the bell, letting off the tiny ringing noise.

All of a sudden a nurse was at the ready, and scampered to Dolly's side. Dolly couldn't tell if she was smiling or not, as she had a typical Klokateer executioner's mask on, but her body language seemed kind enough. She took the girl by the arm and led her into the doctor's office, where the poofy man was picking at his nails. The nurse cleared her throat, and the man looked up, unamused. The nurse briskly left the office and closed the door behind her.

"So, what's wrong with you?" The doctor spoke in a slightly high voice, typical of nerds and game-enthusiasts.

Dolly, a little unnerved, tentatively rolled up her sleeve and showed the doctor her dilemma, "I need some new skin..."

The man rolled his eyes, "You don't need new skin, honey." He spoke slowly, thinking she was some kind of retard, "You just need to wait for that wound to heal. I'll give you some gauze and painkillers—"

"No, douchebag." She snarled, "This is a fake arm, it's not _going_ to heal. I need some... skin..."

The doctor seemed slightly more interested, "Oh I see. Well then..." He pressed a couple buttons, and the nurse soon returned with a couple other nurses. They looked Dolly over from a couple different perspectives and then one of them took her arm, examined it, scribbled some things down and nodded at the doctor before leaving the room.

"Your new skin should be done within the week." He said, taking his seat again and looking dully at his computer screen.

"Can't you have it down sooner?" Dolly replied desperately, "I can't let anyone else know... about my arm."

"It's not abnormal. I've had plenty of people come in with fake appendages."

Dolly hung her head with a deep sigh, "I'll come back in a week, then..." The doctor nodded, and she walked out.

What was she going to do for that week? Hiding a gash that deep and that large was no easy business. And Ofdensen... Well, now she knew why she saw that look that terrified her the time just before he gave her that gun. He was extremely scary, and if the band didn't know it already, he was probably hiding from him. He had control over the entirety of Mordhaus, and if she stepped out of line, he may just personally see to her extermination... Shaking the thought from her mind, she turned the corner as she pulled her sleeve down and opened her door.

Dolly holed up in her room, yanked off her arm and just stared at it for a couple moments. How could she hide the damn gash without making it look like she was trying to hide something? Chewing her lip, she searched through her bag for something that may help... And sighed in relief when she saw a tube of super glue. She pulled the cap off with her teeth and carefully lined the cuts with glue, taking care not to get distracted—

"Dooooollllyyyyy!!" Someone yelled from below her window. She jolted and splattered super glue right where she needed it. Blinking in comfortable confusion, she walked to the window without her arm. It was 5 in the afternoon and Pickles was already drunk, in a pair of pajama pants with a bottle of vodka swinging in his grasp. Dolly rolled her eyes; he was usually horny when drunk.

"Come dooun heerree!" He slurred, "I go- I gotta tell you some-ting!"

"I'm busy, Pickles!" She called down, careful to hide her arm, "I'll talk to you later!"

"Nooo you have to... come now..." He took a drink in between words, and just stumbled even more. Without answering, Dolly rolled her eyes and backed away from the window. She hooked in her arm, the super glue having dried quickly and easily, threw on another long sleeved shirt and went down to the courtyard. She looked around, and Pickles didn't seem to be anywhere... Did he stumble off? Maybe he decided to tell someone else—

The 179-pound drummer tackled Dolly to the ground from behind, effectively causing her to skin part of her fake arm off. She groaned while he laughed drunkenly, and stumbled back to his feet, "I totally got'cha..." He took yet another swing of vodka. Dolly sneered slightly and stood up, brushing herself off.

"Was that what you wanted to tell me, Pickles?" She said, unamused.

"No no... We're uh, playin' a pram in a little, and ay think you..." He hung his arm over her shoulder, "Ay think you need ta come... 'Cause ay don't know shit about fucking pram... Never even went to my own..."

Dolly couldn't help but laugh, "Wait wait. Why is Dethklok playing some dinky little prom?"

"Ya know, I fuckin' fergot, but we're doin' it, so you need to be dere..." He seemed almost sincere in his perpetual drunkenness, and Dolly found it endearing. She shook her head and helped the drummer stand a little easier.

"Sure, I'll come. Though, if you plan on bringing a date, don't ask me to help. I didn't even go to my own prom with a date~" She kind of laughed; looking back, it was very funny...

"Nah, nah... No dates. Fuck dat. We're just gonna play and get outta dere..."

"Where are you playing, anyway?" She couldn't help asking.

"..." Pickles seemed almost confused by her words, and she laughed, "Okay never mind..."

Dolly escorted Pickles back upstairs, his sexual advances becoming less and less subtle, having started from a not-so-subtle place initially. She halfway threw him onto the couch in the fireplace room, and he was out. Smiling a little, she couldn't resist the temptation and curled up on the couch across from him, trying to get some sleep...

"Aww, looks at de cute little babies, Nat'ans..." She heard Skwisgaar snicker, but paid him no mind.

"She looks almost... feminine when she's asleep..." The lead singer said, "It's... kind of, uh... weird."

"So woulds you still do's her?" The blond asked casually, and she could hear him shove him hands in his pockets.

"Huuh... Probably not. It would be like... doing a guy. And I _really_ do not want to think about that... What about you?"

"Voluns-terrily? Eh, I've... done worse. But ja, she ams more like a guy anyway..."

Dolly snorted inside her head, tempted to scream at them and show her that she was in fact, a girl... But she decided against it and instead just yawned and rolled over. Skwisgaar 'aww'ed again, condescendingly so this time, but the two of them soon succumbed to the sleep-fest, with Nathan at her feet and Skwisgaar in the chair next to Pickles, who was mumbling drunken soliloquies in his sleep. Murderface and Toki had wandered in just 15 minutes later, and didn't waste any time stretching out on the last couch, and piece of floor right beneath respectively, and falling asleep.

The Kodac moment lasted only an hour.

Nathan was the first one to wake up to the sound of a tapping heel. He groaned at Ofdensen, "Dear... god, couldn't you just be compassionate for once and let us sleep...?"

"It's 6:24 in the evening, Nathan." The be-spectacled man answered, "You can sleep later. You have a prom set to do."

The singer rubbed his eyes, "Fine, whatever... Just go away, we'll be there... some time."

Ofdensen nodded and left the room, quickly returning to his office and turning on his hidden cameras to see if Nathan actually listened to him...

"Hey, dude... girl... Dolly, get the fuck up." Nathan pushed her shoulder and she groaned.

"I don't wanna get up..." She cracked an eye open, "Nor do I have to. I'm not part of the band, I don't have to put together a set..."

Nathan frowned, "If we suffer, I'm making sure you suffer along with us."

Surprised by the straightforwardness of Nathan's speech pattern, Dolly sat up. But she soon got over the shock and smirked slightly, "And what if I say no?"

In an instant, she was scooped up onto Nathan's shoulder. Her squeal of surprise woke up Pickles, who laughed at her predicament, and got up from the couch without so much as a slight misstep. He seemed completely cured of his drunkenness, without any signs of a hangover or discomfort. He had quite an... odd and useful gift. When Nathan told him what was up, the drummer muttered _"Mother-douchebags..."_ and helped him kick the rest of them awake.

Toki couldn't help but pinch Dolly's cheeks, claiming that she looked so cute in a 'Vuner-alble' situation. Murderface attempting an ass groping, but she kicked him in the head before he got too close. Skwisgaar just shook his head and thought, _'She has a flat ass anyway...'_

"Nathan, you can put me down now..." Dolly growled, starting to get sick to her stomach up on the singer's shoulder.

"We all know that you're going to run off the firsht chanshe you get, Dolly." Murderface stated plainly, rubbing the back of his hurting head.

"That's _Miss Codling_ to you, Murderface." She half-teased.

"Schut up!"

She laughed at him, and gagged slightly as Nathan took another step and his shoulder jerked into her stomach, "Seriously Nathan, I'm gonna throw up all over you. Put me down..."

That finally got him to put her down, and she was off in a flash. She laughed and threw them the finger, "Suckers--!"

But luck wasn't with her that day, and she plowed right into the one person she was trying to avoid. His glasses gleamed maliciously in the dim light, and while he didn't seem to be affected by the bump, Dolly was on the floor. She glanced up at him and couldn't say anything, humiliation clear in her eyes and the color in her cheeks. He extended a hand to her, but she didn't know if it was to help her up, throw her out an open window or take her arm off again and show the boys how flat one part of her really was. So she stood up on her own and brushed herself off while muttering a quick _sorry_, and running back to the boys. Only Pickles seemed to have noticed her predicament, as the others had soon engaged in minute conversation as they walked towards the practice room.

"Dood, what happened?" He asked, hands in his pockets, "Ya look like ay do when ay smoke bad weed."

Dolly smiled a little at his interesting version of concern, "Nothing, but you know how Ofdensen is... If he knew that I was running from you guys, he'd force me to stay. So I decided to come back on my own."

His roguish smirk returned to his face, "Ah, ay know you were just commin' back fer me. Don't need ta hide it."

She laughed, "Oh yes Pickles, that's why I came back~ I love you so much that my intentions were flipped backwards just so that I could be around you~"

Though said in a completely joking and sarcastic way, Pickles' spirit seemed lifted. He chuckled, "Yer a good kid..."

___________________________

Ofdensen watched Dolly scurry away to the boys. She seemed afraid of him, but he knew that she wouldn't tell them what happened lest her own secret be revealed. While she and the band were sleeping in the main room, he had the Klokateers search her room. They found nothing of consequence, but Ofdensen paid that little fact no mind. He knew for a fact that there was something wrong with her; there was something she wasn't telling him. Be it something small like a heroin addiction, or something big like a network of bombs planted throughout Mordhaus, he knew there was something. And though he might have been wrong about her arm, he did not consider what he did a mistake.

Charles Foster Ofdensen does not make mistakes. He makes choices.

And by tearing her arm open, she became afraid of him. And perhaps it was better that she feared him, since she didn't seem to have any loyalty towards plain authority, and he didn't plan on becoming her '_friend'_. Perhaps her desired friendship with Dethklok was sincere, but behind every great woman, there was a great stratagem in the mix.

And though Dolly was definitely no strategist, there had to be someone behind her that was. And with that, the CFO was at work...

_____________________________

Dolly found comfort in the cold, hard floor of the practice room with the amplified sounds creating a vibrating sensation throughout her body. Though they had brought her in to suffer, Dethklok didn't care enough to actively make her do so. So she laid down and picked at the floor as they practiced, Nathan's deep vocals almost lulling her to sleep again as she daydreamed about events past...

"_Dolly~?" The 26 year old blond woman purred with a Swedish accent to the young girl, "Hej sötnos, time to wake up..."_

"_I dun wanna get up..." The 12-year-old girl whined, turning over in the lovely feather bed, "5 more minutes...?"_

"_You will miss breakfast, love." Helene chuckled, placing her hand on her belly, swollen with child._

"_Aww... Fine, I'll wake up..." Dolly sat up and yawned, putting her slightly matted brown hair into a messy ponytail and following the woman down the stairs to the breakfast table. At the table already was Gunvor, Helene's 9-year-old daughter from a previous lover. The young girl was smiling at Dolly's father, her front two teeth missing. Dolly's father was smiling back at the young girl, having just told a funny story. Dolly sat at the table next to her father, kissing his cheek and smiling at him. He patted her head and asked how she slept as Helene retrieved both her own and Dolly's breakfast. Helene was 6 months pregnant and showing quite a bit; Dolly enjoyed teasing the woman about how she was getting fat._

_Four o' clock that afternoon, Molly Codling knocked on the door and without waiting, opened the door and removed her daughter from the house. Only Gunvor was around at the time, and started crying because Molly had yelled at Dolly about how she was worthless as a daughter. That night, Dolly was sent to bed without dinner. Though it might as well have been so, since Molly never made dinner for her kids anyway..._

A sudden, out of context riff brought Dolly jumping from her daydream. Toki had attempted to play the guitar with his teeth like some web comic he had seen, but it seemed to have failed miserably... And he didn't want to give it up. So Skwisgaar unplugged his guitar from the amp and stood there looking like the smug, shadowy eyed Swede he really was. Toki still wouldn't give it up, and insisted that he would be better than Skwisgaar if he could do it correctly. The blond automatically took it as a challenge, and started to run his teeth along his guitar strings.

Dolly just held her ears until Pickles unplugged Skwisgaar's guitar and the two Scandinavians just stood there shaking their guitars at their faces. Nathan and Murderface looked at each other and crossed their arms, shaking their heads pseudo-knowingly, as if this had happened before.

It was soon late, and they all retired to bed.

But Dolly wasn't sleeping that week; Nathan decided that it was her job to make sure that they practiced and had a set before they had to go on stage. One of the few reasons he told her to do this was because he enjoyed her reactions; the other reason was that he had never played a prom; he hadn't even gone to his own.

"So uh..." He started the first night of brainstorming, "What... should we even play? I mean I know that 18 year olds tend to like what we usually play... But shouldn't there be some kind of slow dance? I've always seen that in movies..."

Dolly shrugged, taking a quick sip of her white wine, "I guess... But you guys aren't a slow jam type of band; they hired you because you're **you**, not because they want you to conform to the ways of the typical prom."

"Yeah..." Nathan sighed his deep, thundering sigh, "But, you know, I never got to go to mine... So I at least want to uh, see how a normal one is set up..."

"I'll tell you what~" Dolly said, "My best friend is a singer, she's _amazing_ at what she does; I'll ask her to come and sing for a slow dance, alright?"

Nathan nodded, "Sure." He sort of warily looked from side to side, "Is she... uuuh..."

"Hot?" Dolly shook her head, "No."

"Oh..."

"I wouldn't call her _hot_, anyway. That term is used for skanks and whores. I'd say that she was... Ravishing~" Dolly stood up and pulled her hair out of her ponytail, curling her fingers around a single lock, "She has these gorgeous natural blond curls, and the deepest blue eyes, as if you were staring into a half full well during no-shadow time. She has a heart-shaped face and an endlessly wonderful smile. She broke her nose when she was younger, so it's a little asymmetrical, but really you don't notice it unless you look really hard. She's a good 5'8", about three inches taller than I am, with a wonderfully curvy body, if not a little _too_ curvy. Her name is Magnolia, but she hates that name so I call her Maggie."

Nathan seemed slightly speechless; Dolly could only guess that no one had ever described someone in such detail with that kind of affection before. She smiled, "But she doesn't go for football players. Sorry dude~"

"Hey, I'm not a football player anymore, I'm the god damn front man and lead vocalist for the biggest fucking band in history." He said, as if the title of _football player_ insulted him deeply.

Dolly stepped back a little, "Whoa, I'm sorry, I didn't know that bothered you so much..."

Nathan leaned back into the couch and shook his head, "My uh... My dad wanted me to go out for football. Said it _built character_. I don't even know what the fuck **character** is. But that became why people thought I was so stupid; _he's a football player, _they said, _of course he's an idiot._ That was uh... a lot of why I dropped out of high school..." He trailed off when he noticed that Dolly was looking at him intently, and he growled, "**What?"**

Dolly smiled and shook her head, "You actually told me something about yourself without me having to drag it out of you..."

"Don't get used to it." The vocalist cleared his throat, "Fuck, okay, so the set..."

___________________________________

"Dood, Murderface, stap it, dat's gross..." Pickles grimaced as Murderface picked his toenails with his knife at the dinner table, "I honestly do nat know how Dally deals wit' you."

Murderface whipped around and glowered at Pickles, "I could schay the schame to you, you horny fucker."

"At least ay'm nat gross aboot it!"

"Well at leascht sche reschpectsch me more 'causche I don't hit on her all the time!"

"**Ladies!"** Nathan boomed, "... Shut up. Murderface, seriously, stop picking your nasty toes."

"Fine! Maybe I'll schtop eating too! Isch that what you want?!" Murderface slammed his hand onto the table and stormed out of the room in a violent huff, pushing past Ofdensen who simply stepped out of the way before Murderface could intentionally bump his shoulder into the manager. Ofdensen straightened his tie before waking into the room and standing at the head of the table, as he always did. Toki waved kind-heartedly at him, a piece of pasta hanging from his overly full mouth. Skwisgaar was dead asleep, and Ofdensen was beginning to think that he had some kind of sleep deficiency problem.

Either that or too many women.

The other two stayed silent, their arms crossed on their chests. Ofdensen cleared his throat rather loudly, successfully waking Skwisgaar up and attaining the attention of the other two.

"How is the ah, set going?" He asked, hands folded behind his back.

"Fine." Nathan answered quickly, poking his roasted duck.

"I hope Miss Codling isn't causing you any problems..."

Pickles shook his head, "Gad no. She's de only one dat seems to know what she's doin', ya know?"

"Do any of you know how Murderface's lessons are ah, coming along?"

"He aaaahh..." Skwisgaar was still recovering from a mixture of vodka and sleep, "He does sounds betters... I means, he's not fuc-xing up as much as he used to's."

Ofdensen nodded, folding his hands behind his back, "Good, well, I hope this... streak continues."

The band nodded and returned to their meal, and the CFO had successfully lost their attention. Stepping out of the room, he saw someone without a Klokateer mask running barefoot down the perpendicular corridor. Narrowing his eyes, he decided to follow this person.

___________________________________

"Is my skin ready?" Dolly asked, dressed in an old, torn up Klokateer's outfit. She wore nothing on her feet, hoping that the lack of heels was enough to throw anyone off her tracks.

The doctor nodded and directed the girl down one hallway, a light above the hallway blinking the letters: **Skin Graphing.** Why they would have such a specific room for a name, Dolly didn't know, but she didn't pay it any mind as she hurried down the corridor. There was one room with a clipboard hanging next to it, and the clipboard had her name on it. She peeked into the room, and the same Klokateer that had greeted her on her first trip to the Mordhaus Hospital wing was smiling at her from the other side of a metal table. She coaxed Dolly over with a finger and told her to take off her arm and put it on the table...


	4. Evolution vs Entropy

Well, with the third season of Metalocalypse inching closer and closer to Adult Swim, I am getting more and more pumped and more and more into this series xD

So, expect a lot of this!

**Deth, Come Near Me**

**Canto 4: Evolution vs. Entropy**

Dolly waited outside the room as she heard the sounds of metal scraping and whirring fans and... things that she didn't much want to think about. Maybe Ofdensen had asked the nurses to continue searching through her arm...? She shook her head and plopped it into her knee, wrapping her arm around herself as she sighed and waited...

And without realizing it, she fell asleep.

Ofdensen's heels made no sound as he stopped and stared down at the one armed woman. She had fallen asleep outside of the room where her arm was getting worked on. Once he had found out that she had asked his doctor to fix her arm, he was tempted to confiscate it and hold it for ransom, but he held himself back. And now he wasn't so sure that this girl was a spy. Falling asleep in such a vulnerable position; was this the best that the government could send?

The female Klokateer hopped out of the room, delicately holding the arm in her hands. As soon as she saw Ofdensen, she paused and bowed deeply. Ofdensen shook his head and waved his hand for her to stand. He then tapped Dolly's head:

"Ms. Codling, I believe your arm is finished."

With a sudden jolt, Dolly was up and in a primal defensive stance a couple feet away from Ofdensen, eyes wild like when Murderface was in fear of being chased down by a wolf. But with grace and elegance, Ofdensen took the arm from the Klokateer and beckoned Dolly towards him. And like a starving animal faced with an enemy holding a piece of meat, she warily stepped towards him, fearful that he would instead beat her over the head with her new arm rather than...

Ofdensen took the stump of her arm as if it were a hand, clearly used to missing limbs, and hooked her arm back into it's place, "I apologize for the rash actions I have taken with you thus far into your employment."

Dolly was thrown, but she replied anyway, "U-um... It's fine..."

"I believe that Nathan and Pickles have been looking for you to help them organize their set. If you would be so kind..." His words were eloquent, to a fault even, but there was nothing emotional behind them. But Dolly didn't seem to notice as she nodded and ran ahead of him to clean herself up and return to Dethklok...

__________________________

Molly Codling bit her lip; he was supposed to have gotten to her house at 3:15! It was now 3:_17_! There must have been something wro—

The sound of a car in the driveway made Molly's heart flutter as she flung open the doors and smiled, her teeth shimmering and her dark red lipstick alluring to any man that hadn't seen a woman for at least a week.

And for General Crozier, that had been the case. He forced a slight smile and walked stiffly up to meet Molly, who melted like jelly in his hands, "It's good to see you again, Molly..."

"I missed you, my love..." She placed a chaste kiss on his dry lips, "Come inside, I have much to tell you!"

Her overly manicured nails locked into the general's flesh as she brought him inside. She dragged him over to the computer, where a couple new e-mails flashed on the desktop. She smiled, biting her lip, "So, you know how my daughter is now inside Mordhaus...?"

"Yes..." General Crozier said, slightly perturbed. He himself had sent dozens of operatives into Mordhaus, and none had made it out alive. If Molly thought she was doing him a favor by sending her daughter into harms way, maybe he shouldn't have been with her...

"She's been sending me pictures~" Molly said, opening up a couple dozen or so files. General Crozier took out his computer glasses and looked at the screen, his eyes widening...

Molly's daughter had gotten more than he had expected. In the backgrounds of some of the pictures, there were things that the Tribunal could add to its list of incriminating factors. In one picture, where the young girl was attempting to tackle Nathan Explosion to the ground, there was a pair of Klokateers dragging a man dressed in civilian clothes, kicking and screaming, into a half shadowed doorway. In others, there were doors with labels on them that seemed odd; unfortunately, most of them were only halfway in the photograph.

"You did well, Molly." General Crozier said, taking the keyboard from her and forwarding the files to his personal e-mail account.

The woman smiled and wrapped her arms around the general's neck, "Now, what about what you promised to do for me...?"

The general chuckled, "Dinner for two at the Cheesecake Factory... I could have done that for you anyway."

"Oh I know!" She pouted, "But I like feeling needed..."

"You're very needed, my dear..."

________________________________

"I don't understand what you need _help with_, Nathan..." Dolly said, clearly frustrated as the lead singer tried to explain what he needed.

Nathan scratched his head, clearly not used to rewording things, "Well I uh... Need you to... make the set... not suck. I'm at a loss; it's like the only thing that I can think of when thinking of prom is... prom. And prom sucks."

Dolly sighed, that was a little clearer, "Okay, maybe instead of thinking about _prom_, you should think about what kind of music would fit the _theme_ you've chosen." Dolly thought for a moment, "What _is_ your theme, anyway?"

"Medieval torture chamber." Nathan replied without hesitation.

Dolly blinked, "Then dude... Why not the songs from your album, **Medieval DethChamber**?"

"..." Nathan slammed his head against the table, "**Of course!!"**

Dolly laughed a little, "You know, that was one of my favorite albums..." She put her fist up and twisted her face into an intense frown, attempting to death growl, "**And all your love / Is nothing but a medieval death chamber / Your eyes like chains / And hands like flogs / Forever beating my bloodied back / My hate for you growing / Sleeping / Waiting / To chain those eyes / And flog those hands / And beat you to your bleeding end!"**

Nathan coughed, "That song wasn't actually supposed to be released... That was back before we had Ofdensen to take care of patents and uh... illegal online uploading and downloading..."

The woman shrugged, "It's one of my favorite songs... It sounds a lot rawer than the others, almost human in comparisin to all your other songs, which sound ethereal—Umm... Almost God-like." She clarified, and Nathan's lips tugged into a slightly self-important smile, "And that song, Nathan... Helped me break up with my abusive boyfriend, believe it or not."

Nathan blinked for a moment, and Dolly nodded as she smiled, "I mean, he wasn't extremely abusive, it wasn't like I had to call the Domestic Abuse hotline... But I hated being with him. And that song really helped me to realize that I had been keeping in my hatred for far too long, and it was time for me to hurt him. So I broke up with him."

"Well uh... Good?" Nathan was glad for her, he really was, but he didn't know how to express it any other way...

She stuck out her tongue at him a little, "Thanks..." She riffled through the lead singer's notes and sighed, "We have so much work to do..."

_______________________

Magnolia Onenha held the dye brush in her teeth as she mixed her hair bleach. Her hair was already blond, but she dyed it as blond as she could due to unmentionable childhood traumas.

She sighed and dipped in the brush, preparing for the first stro—

The phone rang.

Maggie cursed and answered it in a huff, "What?"

"_Maggie, Dethklok is coming to California to do the President's daughter's prom! I got you a ticket!!"_ A high-pitched version of her best friend's voice screeched through the receiver.

"... Wow. Um... I'm too shocked to say anything of use right now." Maggie replied, plunking the dye brush into the bleach.

"_That's fine, call me back later!"_

"Alright..." Maggie hung up the phone.

Everyone within a three-apartment radius heard Maggie's sudden screams of joy. The bleach was abandoned for a quick rummage through her wardrobe. Setting out a couple dozen choices, Maggie quickly returned to her bleach and tried to keep from hyperventilating as she applied the bleach carefully to the very base of her roots...

After making sure that all her hair was coated in at least three layers of bleach, Maggie took off her trusty black dying gloves and redialed Dolly's number.

"_So, had some time to get out the excitement?"_

Maggie laughed, "You know me much to well... When is it?"

"_In two weeks at the Greek Theater. I'm gonna try to get the boys some free time. They're all so wonderful, Maggie... A little stupid, and kind of violent... And they're always drunk... And uh, always horny... But anyway~" _Dolly laughed at herself, _"I'll try to get them decent, alright?"_

"If you can do that Doll, I will worship the ground you walk upon." Maggie said, making kissy noises.

"_Um... Listen, I kind of had an ulterior motive in calling you, too... You know how there are always slow dances at proms?"_

Maggie absentmindedly twirled one of her curls, forgetting that she had bleached them moments before, "Mm-hm..."

"_Well, ah... Nathan kind of asked me to get you to perform for the slow dance."_

"... Nathan asked for _me_ to perform for _them?"_ Maggie replied, discontinuing her finger curling.

"_Yeah... Would you mind?"_

"Would I mind? Dolly. I've been waiting for the most _famous_ band in the _world_ to call on me for my entire life. I'm in denial, even. I don't believe you, even though I know you're right." Maggie said, feeling very logical, "Now, when we hang up, I'm going to pass out from excitement. But you pay me no mind, I'll call you back in a couple days to figure out the details, alright?"

Dolly laughed, _"Yeah, okay... Talk to you later, Magnolia~"_

"See ya, Rag-Doll!" And true to her word, as soon as Maggie hung up the phone, she fell to the floor, pleasantly out cold.

___________________________

"Murderface, you have no idea how better you've gotten!" Dolly said, in complete wonder. The bassist's cheeks puckered as he tried to keep from blushing and continued to play scales, three times as quickly as he did when they started lessons, and a lot more accurately. It was undeniable that he had made amazing leaps of improvement, and even Skwisgaar had mentioned it every now and again. Dolly was amazingly proud.

"You know, I think you're probably my best student." She grinned, capturing Murderface in a friendly side hug.

"You have other schtudentsch?" Murderface replied dryly, knowing the answer well enough.

"Well... No. But I don't plan on having any other students either, so you'll be my best forever!" She laughed and Murderface rolled his eyes, "Hey... What's wrong, Murderface? You've seemed down lately..."

"It'sch nothing..." He mumbled in reply, picking at his strings.

"Oh come on..." Dolly pouted her lips, "You can tell me!"

"I schaid it'sch nothing!" He yelled, and she jumped, "Now, get out, I have... Planet Pissch schtuff to do!!" He pushed the girl and her bass out the door and then slammed it in her face. A little upset, Dolly went back to her room. She checked her e-mail, sent an e-mail to Maggie, and then walked to the couch room with the huge fireplace.

There, Skwisgaar was staring at the fire, his fingers not flying for once, and instead just playing chord scales. She looked at him, half shadowed in the light of the fire, so intensely focused on his playing... Until he looked up and saw her. She smiled a little and sat next to him as he returned his gaze to the fireplace, "Whats are yous doings here?"

"Murderface kicked me out of his lesson..." She replied, taking off the band tee she was wearing and pulling down the black wife beater underneath.

Skwisgaar shook his head, "He's is always moody around dis time of de year..."

"Any idea why?"

"Nej." The guitarist answered, "But I knows hes ams going to drink himselfs into a coma. It wouldn't bes a good ideas to disturbs him at de moment."

Dolly sighed and leaned back, just noticing that she still had her bass with her. She looked at Skwisgaar's fingers as he played and put her own fingers a third underneath what he was playing. He looked at her, his eyes saying something along the lines of, '_What the hell do you think you're doing?'_

She smiled a little sheepishly, "You're always kind of... jamming with yourself. And it's good for you to jam with other people, so I thought I'd uh... jam with you."

The blond shrugged, "I don'ts gives a crap."

Smiling and leaning back next to him, Dolly followed Skwisgaar's lead and played chord scales a third under him for a couple measures, and then when Skwisgaar went back to his usual flying fingers, Dolly picked up the key signature and played polyrhythm's with him, taking up a 3 count beneath his 4 count. Skwisgaar, amused, changed key signature, and she quickly followed. Skwisgaar switched to a three, so she changed to a 2.

A little smile appeared on the guitarist's face as he played to match Dolly, and there was sudden musical euphoria. The two musicians locked eyes and were on top of each other on every note, every beat, and together, their musicality and intonations were unrivaled. While Dolly grinned like a kid at a carnival, Skwisgaar's lips were curved into his trademark sex smile, his eyes low and seductive. But Dolly wasn't looking at his eyes; she was looking at his music. And as the music_ in_ his eyes bounced around and played with hers, they slowly diminuendo'd into arguably the saddest key signature: B minor. And as they did so, Dolly started to hum along in her deep, alto/tenor voice. Skwisgaar soon joined along, having fantastic relative pitch, unsurprisingly.

Nathan and Pickles walked in halfway through, and were watching intently. Nathan had turned on his tape recorder, thinking of possible lyrics that instant. Pickles was drumming along in his head, every brain cell focused on the music.

... And then Toki walked in.

"Wowee!" he said loudly, and Skwisgaar's fingers stopped with an unfortunate and out of key riff, the blond's eyebrows knitting together in a frown.

"Cans I join?" Toki asked hopefully, practically bouncing.

"Nej!" Skwisgaar hissed, "Du har förstört det, Toki!"

Toki jumped a little and sunk in height, mumbling, "Jeg beklager, Skwisgaar..."

The blond yanked up his guitar and stormed off, practically steaming with rage. Dolly opened her mouth to talk, but a hand covered it. She looked up and saw Pickles shake his head as they watched Toki walk away, despondent. Pickles took his hand away from Dolly's mouth and sighed, "We don't fuck around in bandmate's business. Dey get in a fight, it's deir jab to figure it out."

"Poor Toki..." Dolly murmured, "I feel bad. He could have joined us if he wanted to—"

"I don't tink so." Pickles replied, "When Skwisgaar is in a mood for music, like he was a minute ago... You don't mess wit' him. Toki hasn't really learned that yet."

Dolly sighed and took off her bass, "You boys and your drama, I swear..."

__________________________

Skwisgaar threw the guitar onto his bed and jumped on after it. He rolled onto his back and glared at the ceiling like a brooding teenager. Toki never failed to mess with his good mood. There he was, there _they_ were, he and the _manly bass girl _Dolly; they were... as she put it, 'jamming'. And he was actually having fun. He hadn't _had fun_ since his carefree days as an improvisational musician in his teenage years. Pulling a pillow over his head, Skwisgaar sighed and closed his eyes.

And he saw her eyes. To him at this point, she was of the _androgyna..._ Neither male nor female, just kind of... an entity. And he enjoyed that; there was no sexual tension, no competitive flame between them, and he could just enjoy her company. He missed that feeling, when he was just starting to play music with his friends back in Stockholm, in the snow, just jamming...

A sudden knock on the door snapped him out of his nostalgia, and the blond stood up in a huff to open the door, "What the fucks do you-- ... Oh, Na'tans."

Nathan looked up at Skwisgaar; he had his glasses on. Whenever he had his glasses on, Skwisgaar knew that he meant serious business, so the blond got out of the way to let the front man into his room. Nathan sat down on Skwisgaar's bed, pulled out his tape recorder and pressed Play. Skwisgaar heard he and Dolly playing together and his eyebrows raised; he didn't remember half of those notes...

"I'd like to make this into a song that goes on the next album." Nathan said, up front, "I'm already thinking about lyrics... Honestly Skwisgaar, it sounds like a tragedy to me. It sounds like two lovers... who meet some kind of tragic end." He scratched his head and stopped the recording, "And I know that isn't something we do. It would definitely be outside our normal repit-oyr... Retipour... Rep... Outside the stuff we do."

"Murderface could nots plays dat." Skwisgaar said bluntly, "He's ams not driven like she ams."

"I know." Nathan adjusted his glasses and mumbled into the tape recorder, "**Need the bass teacher...**" He looked at Skwisgaar, "I'd actually like to work with you on this some time soon. After the... _prom._"

Skwisgaar cringed, "We's ams actually doings dat? Pft, I t'oughts you were kiddings..."

"We're billing the President of the United States 20 billion dollars, Skwisgaar. That's a lot of fucking money. We're playing the damn prom."

The blond rolled his eyes, "Ja, ja..."

Meanwhile in the fireplace room, Pickles' head was on Dolly's lap as she curled his dreads in her fingers, taking in the smell of burning wood and the sweet alcohol on his breath... It was nice to relax in such an apprehensive environment as Mordhaus. She smiled down at him, her eyes twinkling in the firelight. He reached up and brushed a stray lock of hair from her cheek, "Ya know, I think yer the first girl ay've been able to relax around in a long time..."

"Likewise, Pickles..." Dolly laughed, "Not that I'm calling you a girl, but... I've been really tense around all my guy friends." She leaned back and looked into the fire, "Come to think of it, I haven't really talked to any of them since I started living here..."

"Ya have new guy friends." Pickles stated, putting his hands behind his head and his nose nearer to Dolly's stomach.

She smiled, "Yeah, I guess I do..." Leaning over so that Pickles was still on her lap, she put her head onto his bent knees and yawned, closing her eyes. She'd just rest for a couple minutes, she promised herself...

But a couple minutes turned into a couple of hours, and she and Pickles slept in a non-sexual 69 position for that entire night. Fortunately, Pickles awoke early the next morning, just before the sun rose, and carried the still-sleeping Dolly back to her room. He crashed in the chair next to the bed, and didn't awake until noon. But when he did wake up, Dolly was right next to him with breakfast and a kind word from Jean-Pierre. And he smiled, and they ate breakfast together in her room...

Over the next two weeks, Dolly spent most of her mornings working with Murderface, who had gotten over his strange bout of depression, and spent the rest of her afternoons working with Nathan, Pickles and Skwisgaar on the set for the prom. She and Skwisgaar, unfortunately, didn't have any more jam sessions, and the blond even seemed kind of reluctant to ever have one with her again. Why this was, she didn't know. But as the last few days before the prom came to a close, Ofdensen, who she hadn't seen since he reattached her arm, finally approached her.

"Ms. Codling."

Dolly jumped, lifting the mechanic's goggles from her eyes, "Oh... Mr. Ofdensen." She stood up from her little art project: a large, metal **Dethklok** sign that was going to go above the stage.

Ofdensen eyed the project with indifference and then looked back at Dolly, "How's the ah, project going on your end?"

She smiled tentatively, "Quite well. The boys have been very kind to me, and I'm very excited."

"I am under the impression that a friend of yours will be doing the slow dance... Am I ah, correct?"

She nodded, "Yeah, my friend Maggie is a professional vocalist. Nathan asked me make sure she had a couple songs rehearsed and prepared for this Saturday. She has an accompanist and everything ready as well, so we don't need to do anything for her."

Ofdensen nodded, "Well, I'm glad everything is going well."

She nodded, "I am too." She nodded her head, "It was um... good to see you, Mr. Ofdensen." She quickly took of the goggles and walked away from him, leaving the project on the ground for a Klokateer to take care of. She was still terrified by him. It felt like he was constantly hostile with her, no matter the situation. It wasn't a bad feeling, it was just... unnerving.

Nathan caught Dolly mid-step and quickly interrogated her on the placement of the set, since the ideas the band had collaboratively come up with made no sense when put together...

_______________________

The ride to the Greek Theater in LA was nothing less than a dream. Their tour bus was like another Mordhaus room on wheels, and Dolly's eyes bugged out of her skull every time she looked out one of the windows and saw trees flying by. Pickles and Skwisgaar hung out in the hot tub while Nathan was on his laptop, Toki was watching the windows and Murderface hung by the fireplace with his bass.

Pickles tried coaxing Dolly into the hot tub, "Ya don't even have to take all yer clothes off! You can wear panties, no one will complain..."

Dolly rolled her eyes, "I'm not going to run the risk of brushing up on your junk, Pickles. I don't know where that thing's been lately, I could get like... a heart disease for all I know."

Skwisgaar snickered and Pickles rolled his eyes, sinking deeper into the hot tub, "Whatever..."

Nathan pulled out his trusty tape recorder and mumbled, "**Junk... Gives you cancer**."

There were Klokateers already stationed at the edges around the Greek Theater, and the DethBus ran a couple of them over as they barreled into the parking lot. Dolly quickly got out to avoid seeing Skwisgaar and Pickles getting out of the hot tub, and was hailed by a feminine voice seconds after.

Maggie, clad in a short white dress, jeans and a sun hat, flailed from in front of the theater. Dolly squealed and tackled her, both of them laughing and hugging each other as if they hadn't seen each other for years. Maggie cupped Dolly's face in her hands, "You're not wearing any make up...! I'm so proud of you! Finally!"

Dolly shrugged, "I didn't really need to at Mordhaus... No one paid any attention anyway."

Maggie smiled and was about to say something else, but the five Dethklok boys, now all clothed, came up behind Dolly, and Maggie was speechless. Dolly turned and smiled, looking back at Maggie, "My love, this is Pickles, Nathan, Skwisgaar, Toki, and Murderface. You've already sort of met Toki..."

Toki and Maggie shook hands, smiling at each other, exchanging words like, "It's nice to see you again" and "Ams nice to meets yous in realitys."

Nathan nudged Dolly, "You're right..."

She raised an eyebrow, "About what?"

"She's uh... really pretty."

Dolly grinned proudly, "I know!"

The six of them entered into the Greek Theater, with Maggie and Toki attached at the hip. Pickles had his arm slung around Dolly's shoulders as he took a drag on a cigarette. Dolly took extra precaution to make sure he blew the smoke away from herself, Nathan and Maggie, seeing as the latter two would be singing, and she herself just didn't like smoke.

The Klokateers had already set everything up, and the only thing left to do was make sure that it was all to Dethklok's liking. So while the boys made sure that their amps were at the correct volume, their stuff was in the right place and they had all the food in the shape of dead ladies that they wanted, Maggie and Dolly caught up on each other.

"No... Brett and I broke up a couple days ago." Maggie replied, twirling a lock of hair in her fingers, "Honestly, we should have broken up _months_ ago... But, you know me. I'm terrified of being alone."

Dolly sighed, "I'm so sorry, Maggie..."

The blond girl smiled and shook her head, "No, it's fine. I've moved on pretty quickly, and he and I are still friends. He told me that he has another girl in his sights already, and I'm happy for him."

Dolly smiled back, and didn't say anything. Maggie was so forgiving, she didn't even pay attention to the fact that this "other girl" and Brett had already been having an affair. Dolly gave Maggie another hug and was about to say something, but a Klokateer came in and told Maggie that her accompanist had arrived. Giving Dolly one last smile, Maggie ran off to talk to her accompanist.

Dethklok being Dethklok, they all had many spare instruments, and Dolly decided to pick up one of Murderface's spare basses and pluck until prom guests started getting there and she had to move...

__________________________

Dolly hung in the wings, watching in complete and utter awe as Dethklok grinded the laws of music into the ground, going above and beyond what she ever thought was possible as a musician. There was so much anger, hatred, pain and abhorrence in their music, and she had to lean up against a wall to keep her knees from buckling underneath her. She looked to her side, to see Ofdensen standing next to her, completely unfazed.

When the Intermission came about and the audience _finally_ stopped cheering, she looked at the man in the business suit and asked him, "How can you just stand there while this... amazing phenomenon is occurring?"

"I've been to ah, all their shows, Ms. Codling." He answered, a little lamely, "I know what they sound like."

Dolly huffed a little and muttered under her breath, _'I'd never get as dreary as you at their concerts if I were their manager...'_

Ofdensen pretended not to hear her and watched as the boys came back onto stage, Nathan with a towel around his neck and the rest of them with a bottle of water, or alcohol, depending. Nathan cleared his throat and turned on the microphone.

"**This last song before the slow dance was uh... never released legally. But someone we know really likes it, so we're gonna... play... it. Yeah. Here's Medieval DethChamber Revisited."**

Dolly was pleasantly surprised and mildly enraptured by the concept of Dethklok dedicating a song to her. Given, the delivery of the name of the song was a little sloppy, but she felt honored. Murderface's bass did well on the two alternating notes he was given for the 6/8 time signature; Skwisgaar's and Toki's guitars actually doing little work. Most of the song was Pickles and Nathan, and the stringed instruments acted mostly as drones.

It was more beautiful than what Dolly remembered. And when they were done, they lacked a bow as they walked off stage, taking deep gulps of their respective liquids. Dolly smiled at Nathan and thanked him for the last song. He just nodded and mumbled a "You're welcome" into his drink.

A figure clad in all black brushed the band as some somber piano music began to play. Dolly smiled and leaned against the banister, watching her blond friend amp up the somber by pulling off her black headdress; underneath, she wore a white blindfold, drenched in fake blood, with fake blood running down her cheeks. She was always so melodramatic.

Looking out into space, Maggie put her lips close to the microphone and began to sing...

_We are the lucky ones  
We shine like a thousand suns  
When all of the color runs together..._

The beauty of it all was that the people in the audience actually knew how to dance in a three step, so soon, there were tons of colorful couples, spinning and dipping and waltzing like professionals. It was quite a sight.

"She ams beautiful..." Toki said in admiration.

"Yeah she is..." Dolly agreed, watching her best friend reach out to the heavens as she hit the highest note in the song.

_Dance me into the night  
Underneath the moon shining so bright  
Let the dark waltz begin_

As the piano took over, Dolly heard short, mumbled whispers coming from the other Dethklok members behind her. She heard bits and pieces of what they were saying, and laughed when she heard the full sentence that seemed to be the theme of their rushed discussion:

"I'd do her."

Toki meanwhile, seemed a little more appreciative as Maggie reached behind her head and untied the white blindfold...

_Oh let me wheel - let me spin  
Let it take me again  
Turning me into the light..._

... Revealing what looked like two gouged out eyes as on the last note, Maggie reached towards the sky, her eyes bleeding fake blood as the note fell away from her, and the lights shut off. There was intense applause; not as much as for Dethklok, but the audience really seemed to respect her.

Maggie halfway blindly stumbled off the stage, sort of tripping over herself and her long dress as the filler music came on and she laughed at herself as she came upon the group in the wings, "I honestly don't know if the bleeding eye thing was worth it... Shit, my eyes sting..." She reached two of her fingers into her eyes and took out the blood red contacts, squeezing her eyes shut and blinking them a couple of times, "... Yeah ow. I'll be right back, I have to find water... Or something at least 50% acidic to clean my eyes out." Toki offered to help her, and she smiled and gladly took his arm as they ran off to find the blond some help.

As the Klokateers began to clean up, Nathan, Pickles and Dolly all sat on the steps of the Dethbus and drank.

"That bleeding eye trick was pretty brutal..." Nathan mumbled, guzzling some beer, "Looked like a good album cover..."

"Mmyeuh..." Pickles agreed, "Been a while since we've had anyting oder den ourselves ahn de cover of our albums..."

Nathan shrugged, "Maybe it's time for a change, then..."

Dolly smiled and took a swig of her drink, enjoying the two boys talking.

It soon came time to pack up and leave, and Dolly wouldn't let go of Maggie. The blond woman sighed and let her best friend hold on as tightly as she wanted, "Oh Dolly... I know, I'll miss you too... But when you're done with this job, you can come back and we'll take a trip to see your dad again, yeah?"

Dolly nodded, and answered with a muffled, "Okay..."

Dolly let go of Maggie, waved one last time, and disappeared into the Dethbus. Maggie smiled at the Dethklok boys and curtsied slightly, "It was very nice to meet all of you..."

"Urm... Likewise." Nathan answered in a grumble, shaking her hand. The other three did something to the same effect, leaving Toki as the last one to say something to her. The rhythm guitarist twiddled his thumbs and said, "Maggies... I ams happy dats we gots to... sees each other. You ams unlike any other goils I haves ever mets, and um..."

Maggie laughed and kissed Toki's cheek, "I'd really like it if you kept in touch with me, Toki..." She slipped something into his hand, "Call me sometime, yeah?"

Toki nodded vigorously and ran back into the Dethbus, a pleased little smile lingering on his lips as they pulled away. A piece of paper with 10 numbers on it was what made him so happy; he had gotten the beauty's phone number. Meanwhile, Nathan inched over to Dolly, who was attempting to get some sleep, and nudged her out of her attempt.

"What?" She halfway snapped, too tired to really be angry.

"Skwisgaar and I uh... have a proposal for you." He said, jerking his head to one side to indicate that the blond guitarist should join him, "That thing that you two played in the den a couple weeks ago... It was really exquisite."

Dolly sat up, "R... really? Well... I honestly wouldn't be able to remember it for the life of me, but—"

She was cut off as Nathan pressed a button on his tape recorder and she and Skwisgaar's jam session floated through the air, "I thought we could... you know, work on it... make it a complete song..."

Dolly nodded, "Y-yes! Of course, I would love to! I haven't really been a part of the song writing process in a while, but I know I can help... somehow."

_______________________

Days pass and nothing comes out of the writing process. Skwisgaar and Dolly fought about meter, rhythm, tempo and how dark and brutal the song should actually be, while Nathan stood off to the side and endured. Pickles was angry at Skwisgaar for yelling at Dolly, Toki was angry with Dolly for yelling at Skwisgaar, and Murderface was just pissed in general.

Soon after the entire band and Dolly decided to lock themselves up in their rooms, Ofdensen called a band meeting. The six trudged to the meeting room, with Pickles, Nathan and Dolly on one side, and Murderface, Skwisgaar and Toki on the other. Skwisgaar and Dolly just glared at the each other as Ofdensen began to talk.

"So ah... What's been happening, here?" He asked.

"Shes ams screwing ups our sound!" Skwisgaar snarled, pointing an accusing finger at Dolly.

"_I'm_ screwing up your sound?!" She yelled back, "This wasn't even supposed to be a _Dethklok _song! It was just an experiment, and then you got all serious about it and made it not fun anymore!!"

"Well sometimes, it ams not fun writings a good song!" Skwsgaar said, leaning back and crossing his arms, "Yous all abouts de fun parts, and doesn't do anys of de work!"

"So sue for wanting to have _fun_ with you, you blond brat!!" Dolly bit back, "You can slack off whenever you want to, but when _I_ want to have fun, I'm not allowed to!"

"Dat's because yous working for us! You's a _slave_! Yous works when _I wants you to!"_ Skwisgaar yelled.

Dolly went quiet. She very quietly got up from the table and left the room, slamming the door as she left. Skwisgaar, unfazed, scoffed, "Pft, she throws tantrumps like my mom dids..."

"Ah... You know Skwisgaar, I hired her as your _co-worker_, not as your slave... As you put it. She isn't like the Klokateers in that regard..." Ofdensen said, adjusting his glasses.

"Who cares? She ams working for us. She might as well bes a slave..." The blond replied stubbornly.

"Come ahn dood... Dat was pretty cold." Pickles said, "She told me dat uh... Back when you guys were jammin', that was some of the best music she had ever played. She said that she had a lot of fun doing dat with you... She just wanted to get that back."

Skwisgaar was silent.

Toki blinked a couple times and said, "I remembers that..." He looked at Skwisgaar, "Shes was smiling a lots... I don't blames her."

"Fuck Schkwisgaar, stop being schuch a prick and go apologize." Murderface mumbled, "I've had to apologize to her a couple timesch, and it'sch... not that bad."

"Yeuh dood, me too." Pickles agreed, "She's really fergiving."

...

"I don'ts need hers to forgive me for anyt'ings!" Skwisgaar yelled, standing up and leaving as well.

Ofdensen sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "Band meeting over. Do not talk to either of them, I will figure this out."

"Uuh... I wasn't planning on talking to them." Nathan said, with the other four nodding in agreement, "Honestly, I'd rather just let this blow over..."

Ofdensen nodded and stood up, "Good idea." They all left to go to their respective rooms, while Ofdensen himself went first to the bass teacher's room...

_______________________________________________________

Du har förstört det - Literally, "You have destroyed it". English usage, "You ruined it". (Swedish)

Jeg beklager - "I'm sorry". (Norwegian)


	5. The Fall

This is a shorter sort of transition chapter... But don't get me wrong! Just because it's short doesn't mean that a lot of stuff doesn't happen in it~ So, like many of you, I saw the season premiere... And for the sake of not spoiling it, I won't say what happened, but I will say that I sobbed SO hard throughout the entire episode...

Love you, Charlie~

Oh, and thanks SO much to the reviewers! You guys are really fantastic, and you help me remember that I should probably keep writing this~ You really help me have fun with this story, so thank you~

**Deth, Come Near Me**

Canto 5: The Fall

"Ms. Codling, you are the employee, that is true..." Ofdensen said after the woman finally let him into her room, "But I agree that Skwisgaar should not have said that."

Dolly sighed and rolled onto her back, staring at Ofdensen, "I know I'm the employee... But he and Nathan asked for my help with the song... God dammit."

"But you have to understand, Ms Codling—"

She cut him off, "And stop with the 'Miss Codling' bull. Call me Dolly, for god's sake..."

Ofdensen cleared his throat, "_Dolly_, Skwisgaar is used to being in charge. He's the fastest guitarist in the entire world, _and _the soloist _and_ lead guitar in the most successful band in history. He is not used to his authority being challenged. And you didn't _ask_ him for anything: you demanded it. Both of you are people with very strong beliefs, and when you clash, the world shakes around you. You have to compromise; you cannot just expect him to fall into line with what you have planned, nor can he expect that of you."

Dolly looked at Ofdensen with some surprise; she hadn't expected him to be so insightful on what was going on. She got up from her bed, hugging one of the pillows to her chest as she sighed, "You're right... You haven't talked to him yet, have you?"

"I ah... don't think he would listen to me." Ofdensen crossed his legs and poured himself some brandy, "But he would listen to you, since you were the one that ah... did all this."

"Well I'm not just going to succumb to what he wants..." Dolly mumbled.

"Then you need to compromise with him, like I said." Ofdensen took a sip of his brandy, "And honestly Ms. Co--... Dolly, you are a guest in Mordhaus. Slamming doors and fighting with the people that own it are not good ways of showing that you are appreciative to be here."

Dolly squeezed her eyes shut and ruffled her hair, "Fuck, you're completely right." She stood up and put her shoes on, "I'm going to go apologize to him right now." She nodded at the manager, "Thank you~ Now get out of my room."

Ofdensen stood up and ordered a nearby Klokateer to bring his brandy with him as he left, and Dolly left to go to Skwisgaar's room. Dolly ran down the hallway. She looked like hell, but it was to be expected. She wasn't attractive; she wasn't going to pile make-up like she used to just to attempt to be something she wasn't. She soon came to Skwisgaar's door and knocked tentatively on it.

"Ofdensens, I ams not talking to yous!" Skwisgaar yelled.

"It's not Ofdensen..." Dolly replied through the door.

A couple seconds of silence later, the door was yanked open by a tall, grimacing blond Swedish man, "What's do yous want?"

"Can I come in...?" Dolly asked softly, "I wanted to... talk to you."

The blond just turned around without closing the door and sat down on his bed, leaning onto his open knees as if he were waiting for her to come in and start speaking. She walked in and gently closed the door, and, finding it inappropriate to sit on Skwisgaar's bed next to him, sat on the floor in front of him.

Skwisgaar's eyebrow raised as Dolly began to talk, "Listen Skwisgaar... I know that I was really rude to you when we were fighting. And I know that you're used to being the Alpha Male... But you need to _listen to me _sometimes. You and Nathan asked for my help, and then when I tried helping, you shot it down."

"And why do you think dat is?" Skwisgaar replied, his sudden perfect grammar biting and sardonic.

Dolly winced, "... I honestly don't know."

"You shows no respect." Skwisgaar said, "Yous definitely a bass player; you tink dat everything ams a personal attack on you, and you strike back before any blows haves been dealt. If yous would just _calms de fuck down_, den I coulds listen to you."

Dolly blinked a couple of times before replying, "W-wow... I'm so sorry, I didn't even know that I was doing that."

"Murderface ams doing it all de time." He smirked slightly, "Don'ts worry, I forgives you. Next times, don't tink dat I ams attacking you; I just tink dats you are wrong."

Dolly laughed a little, "Okay... Thanks, Skwisgaar."

"No problems." He chuckled slightly, "And you don'ts have to sits in front of me like you're goings to gives to me a blowjob."

Blushing a little, Dolly stood up in an instant, "I wasn't really thinking about that, sorry..."

She blond shook his head and smiled a little, "It ams fine. Lets leave de song alones for a couple days, ja?"

Dolly nodded, "I agree... All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy!"

"Who de fucks is Jack?"

* * *

A couple days later, Dolly found Nathan in the kitchen, drinking a beer. He seemed lonely, so Dolly joined him, and soon, a conversation was started...

"I've... never really believed in God, no." Dolly answered Nathan's question, "It's not that I don't _want_ to, I've just never really had a divine presence in my life. The logic that I've grown up with doesn't really... have a place for a God."

"My uh... my mom and dad were really into Jesus." He said in a low grumble, "We used to have crosses all over the house... But when I was 17, my dad had some sort of epiphany and melted them all down to make into a new tool set. My mom was so fucking pissed off..." He chuckled, "Good times..."

Dolly smiled a little, "Do you and your dad still talk?"

He shook his head, "Not really. We uuh... didn't really have a 'father/son' relationship... We were just kind of buddies. What about you and your dad?"

"Oh, I love my dad... He left my mother when I was eleven, and ran off with his Swedish mistress. Funny thing, I like their family better than I like my mother's. The woman he married is named Helene; she's a celebrated Swedish opera singer and contemporary composer... And my dad just likes fucking around with his guitar. He's great, just... kind of lazy." She picked dirt out from under he nails, "I actually spent a lot of my teenage life with them... and I finished high school in Sweden. I don't know any Swedish fluently like, at all, but Helene taught me some nifty little phrases."

"... Nifty?" Nathan raised an eyebrow, "Wasn't that word killed off once the 21st century rolled around?"

"I'm allowed to be a little old fashioned, alright? Don't judge me." The woman poured herself a glass of cranberry vodka and took a sip, "To change the subject... Any chance we could start work on that song some time soon?"

Nathan gave her his patented 'I'm too disgusted to answer that question' look. She took another sip of her drink and sighed, "I told you, Skwisgaar and I talked about it a couple days ago. We're fine; I promise we won't fight... As much."

"Huuh..." Nathan took another swig of beer, "I guess I'm drunk enough to say yes..."

Dolly smiled, "Thanks dude. I won't let you down."

"Shut up..."

* * *

Months passed. One song branched off into two, which branched off into four, and then there was an entire concept album created by the band with Dolly. She became as close to a band member as she could've gotten. She and Skwisgaar became musical buddies, figuring out that their styles were actually very alike when they really worked.

Dolly and Pickles became nothing short of the best of friends, though as time passed, Pickles sexual advances diminished.

Dolly herself became less and less girly, soon just cutting all her hair down to a short, scruffy boy cut, minus the bangs that she left chin length to hide behind while playing her bass. She had gained some weight while at Mordhaus, and soon her curves were less than visible, fueling her love for big, baggy, black clothing. And soon, she was one of the guys.

Dolly Codling was soon out of the picture; to the band, she was Dodo. To the press, she was Dodo. Even to Offdensen, she was Dodo. At that point, her gender was less than important: the important thing was that her company was enjoyed all over Mordhaus. Every Klokateer, every maintenance worker, every janitor and coroner in Mordhaus knew who she was, and none of them were the least bit afraid to approach her and say hello.

She had already been featured in tabloids as "Nathan Explosion's Long Lost Brother", though those allegations were soon thrown out the window by another tabloid that claimed that she was instead an undercover FBI agent. And the accusations just became more and more ridiculous, and the woman just laughed at them.

Her relationship with the band was nothing less than brotherly love, and she hadn't been hoping for anything less. Growing up with four brothers, it was like home again, when James was still alive. Nathan himself had taken the place of James in her mind, and she was very happy, even as a boy.

But all good things come to an end.

"Junk... junk... junk..." Dodo mumbled as she deleted her e-mails.

"Dood, Dodo, we're goin' out fer some drinks." Pickles yelled through the door, "Hurry the fuck up, man!"

"I'm coming, shut up!" Dodo snarled. She looked at the last message she had, titled: 'Top Secret'. Raising an eyebrow, she opened it...

Bug mistake.

Her screen was suddenly barraged with file after file of... Mordhaus Intel and blueprints. Eyes wide with confusion and fear, she tried deleting the message, but all the files hadn't stopped downloading onto her computer, and she couldn't do anything until it was done with that.

"Oh shit..." She blanched and closed her computer. Sitting there for a moment, she couldn't help thinking, _'Why would someone want to send me all that shit?'_ Lost in thought, she was thrown when her door was kicked in and Klokateers stormed in, picking her up by the armpits and dragging her down the hallway, her ankles dragging on the carpet.

"Let me go you assholes!!" she snapped, fully aware of why she was being dragged. Did they think that she had asked for all that crap? Was she in trouble? Oh well, she knew that good ol' Offdensen would help her out...

But unfortunately, she was being dragged to his office for another reason.

Sitting at his desk with his fingers laced, he once again stared down at the female employee, though this time, the issue was not her arm. She stared right back, having forgotten the dangerousness she had seen in his eyes once or twice 6 months ago. She wasn't afraid of him: Dethklok's own actions towards him had desensitized her in terms of how to react to Charles Offdensen.

"You know that wasn't my stuff, Offdensen." She said dryly.

"You know..." He said, tapping his thumbs together, "I've always had a voice in the back of my head... telling me that I should be wary of you."

She grimaced at him, "Stop bullshitting, Offdensen. Just tell them to let me go, and I can get back to—"

"You've outlived your stay, Miss Codling." Offdensen cut her off, "And this was the straw that broke the camels back. All of your items will be seized and searched, and you will be let go."

"No! What?!" She cried, "B-but we're still working on—"

"That project will be forgotten when you decide that you do not wish to be here anymore, Miss Codling."

"But I _do_ want to be here!"

"That's not what the boys will here."

Without a comeback, Dolly let out a cry of rage and beat her Klokateer restrainers like a bird beating against the bars of her cage as she was dragged out. Right outside Offdensen's office, one of the Klokateers pressed a spot on the wall, and a doorway to a staircase that Dodo had never seen opened up. The Klokateers practically threw her down the stairs to a dark, dank, disgusting place. If there were some fire and brimstone, she could've called it Hell. Behind them, one Klokateer closed the door, and a hallway was suddenly lit with torches.

'_There's my fire...'_ She thought, taking a whiff of the place and crinkling her nose, _'And there's my brimstone...'_

"Sorry dude..." One of the Klokateers mumbled, chucking Dodo into one of the cells.

Dodo stood up and grabbed the bars, snarling at the passing Klokateers who just hung their heads as they walked by. She backed away from the bars and sat down on the pathetic excuse for a bed that was half-heartedly placed in the cell.

'_What the fuck is this place...?' _She thought, the gravity of the situation slowly unfolding. All her stuff, her high standing with the band, her computer... All of it was suddenly gone because of some stupid piece of spam someone sent her. Burying her face in her knees, Dodo cried for the first time in 5 months.

Less than five minutes later, a different type of Klokateer made his entrance. This one was big, burly, and under his uniform, Dodo could see swollen scar lines down his chest and across his face. This was a Klokateer that would not be swayed by anything that she said, and when he opened the cell door, she meekly walked out and followed him down the hall.

And in the room he led her to, she was interrogated for nine hours straight. By the end, one of her eyes was swollen shut, and various small cuts were dripping blood onto the dark red floor. After the scarred man was done with her, two newer, lankier and much less terrifying Klokateers were brought in to look after her before she was thrown out onto the street. The two of them had beers in hand, and clearly were not taking their positions very seriously.

Laughing, one of them pointed at Dodo and said, "You know, I heard he was a girl once."

The other one scoffed, "No fucking way, dude. Dodo was in no way, shape or form, ever a girl."

And she just kept quiet.

"I never liked you." The first one snarled after a couple more beers, "You took all the attention away from the Klokateers, you asshole!"

The second one, equally if not even more drunk, picked up one of the empty beer bottles, "Dude look, I'll bet this'll scare him..." There was a metal pole right in front of Dodo, and the second Klokateer tapped the empty bottle against the pole before smashing the bottle towards Dodo, intending to simply scare her...

But a large piece was caught in her swollen eye.

* * *

A sudden, ear-splitting scream permeated through Mordhaus. In the recording room, Pickles' finger was on the record button as the rest of the band went quiet to listen to the scream.

"Pickles, did you get that?" Nathan said, in the recording box.

"Yeuh, dood." He said, "But what was it?"

The lead singer shrugged, "Who cares. That was fucking metal. It sounds like someone was just stabbed in the eye."

* * *

The two Klokateers, terrified of what their boss would do to them if he found out what they had done, went ahead of schedule and dumped Dolly in the nearby squatter town. The piece of glass still in her eye, Dolly stumbled with blood red vision to her only sanctuary: The Satin Death. She had continued to go there for her alone time, and had become friendly with the pierced up bartender. Likewise with Dethklok, he had become more of a buddy and less of a possible sexual partner.

The bartender, named Harold, found Dolly at the front door, unable to speak because of the pain. He quickly took her inside and told his co-worker to call the resident, runaway doctor that had joined their ranks just weeks before.

"Can you get it out...?" Harold asked the doctor, voice low and shaking.

The doctor was without morphine or any kind of medical tools, so he could only watch the girl as she convulsed and made pained noises.

"Of course I can get it out." The man growled, "I'm just not sure how deep in it is... Nor do I have anything sterilized to take it with _with._"

"..." Harold took out his ice tongs and handed them to the doctor, a determined look on his face.

The doctor sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "How far I've fallen..." He looked at Dolly, her eye still squirting blood, "Alright my dear, clench your teeth and scream as loud as you want..." He gripped the end of the glass piece with the tongs and breathed, "One... two... three!"

He yanked the glass piece out, and the blood in her eye socket spilled over as she almost choked on her own spit. Harold quickly grabbed a clean dishtowel and held it against her eye as she choked in pain, and he whispered, "Sshh... It's okay Dolly, it's okay..."

"I don't think she'll ever be able to use that eye again..." The doctor said as he examined the piece of glass, "And looking at how deep the glass got, if it wasn't previously swollen, she would've gotten one nasty lobotomy..."

A sudden sob wracked the woman's body as her working tear duct overflowed. From one eye came tears, and from the other, blood still pooled at the edge and dripped out the side of the washcloth. Harold glared at the doctor from the corner of his eye and then looked back at Dolly, "I'm going to go find some bandages. Sit tight, alright?"

Lip quivering, Dolly nodded slowly, and her hand shook as she replaced Harold's hand to hold the washcloth to her eye as he smiled slightly and ran out the door. The doctor then took Dolly's other wrist and looked at his watch to check her pulse. As he did this, she slowly nodded out, finally wasted from the overwhelming horrors of the day. Right before she did, the old doctor smiled snarkily at her and mumbled, "Don't worry, you're going to live..."

* * *

When Dolly woke up, neither Harold nor the doctor were by her, and she was in a sterile white room. Next to her was a blond woman, passed out on her bed. And she recognized those bleach blond curls...

"Maggie...?" She said, hoarse from not talking for a seemingly long time.

The blond was instantly awake, her eyes puffy and red. She sniffled and sobbed, "You're okay...!"

"Where am I...?"

"You're in a hospital in Norway... And I have a lot to tell you." Maggie said, gently placing her hand on Dolly's, "But first, tell me what happened to you..."

"... I'd rather not talk about it..." Dolly coughed, her mouth dry and her stomach painfully empty. Suddenly remembering the repercussions of "What happened", her hand flew to her left eye. There was a bandage over it, and underneath, she felt nothing. Above and below the bandage was a healing cut, and she felt that her eyebrow was cut in half.

"Maggie please..." She said, "Just... tell me what you need to tell me."

"Someone named Harold called me from your phone and told me what happened to you... And he said that he was going to take you to a hospital in Oslo, Norway. He texted me the address, and that I should tell the rest of your family. Your brothers said that they would head out this way as soon as they could, but when I went to tell your mother..." She shook her head, "She was gone. Her entire house was... empty. Her phone was out of service; I couldn't reach her at all... I have no idea where she is now, Dolly..."

The now one-eyed woman stared at her bed covers. Where could her mother have gone at such a pivotal and painful time in her life...?

She looked at Maggie, tears in the eye she had left, and said, "Are my brothers here...?"

Maggie nodded, "They went to get coffee, but they should be back soon..."

"Thanks... How long have I been out?"

"About a week, apparently... It took that Harold guy about two days to get here, and you've been out ever since... I got here three days ago, and your brothers got here yesterday." Maggie answered softly, "You've been on an IV drip for a while... Are you hungry?"

"Starving..."

"I'll call Hunter to get you something." Maggie smiled and stepped out of the room for a moment.

While she was out, Dolly looked out the window. It was a beautiful day... and she couldn't help feeling betrayed, angry, and completely despondent... Offdensen had thrown her out because she had opened an e-mail. She knew him to be a careful man, but never rash in action. Had he really been suspecting her of foul play for such a long time? She knew that he was careful of her arm, but that blew over rather quickly. Or at least, it seemed like it had...

Maggie soon returned with Dolly's three brothers: Hunter, Maddox and Dashiel, in age ascending order. They uncharacteristically showered her with affection until she cried, and then they gave her even more of their love and attention. It was both a blessing and a curse that she was unfairly kicked out of Mordhaus. Never before had her brothers told her that they loved her, and yet now, it was as if they couldn't stop saying it...


	6. The Inner Epilogue

Wooow~ I've loved the past few episodes! I know you guys have too ;P I'm posting this... 7 or 8 hours before the next one comes on for me, and I'm MEGA excited! I just finished applying for the first half of the colleges I want to apply to, and the next ones aren't due until January, so I'll be doing a lot of... this xP

Oh by the way, any Swedish you see here (which isn't much), you can plug into Google translator. If you don't want to, I'll have the translations at the bottom of the chapter ^^

Thanks again to all my reviewers~! You guys are fantastic as always 3~

**Deth, Come Near Me**

Canto 6: The Inner Epilogue

Two weeks passed in the hospital, and Dolly lived off an IV drip for most of it. Every time she saw a bottle, she freaked out. Every time she saw something remotely sharp, she had a panic attack. She couldn't look when they had to give her shots. And because of this, she ate very little and lost all the weight she had gained at Mordhaus, and more. Her first walk in weeks resulted in mostly disaster as she walked into walls and people, and ended in Hunter piggy-backing her to her room. Her lack of depth perception drove her to near fatal anxiety attacks.

Any news of Dethklok was kept far away from Dolly, and Maggie and the brothers made sure of that. The disappearance of Dolly from Dethklok's ranks wasn't considered important news to reporters worldwide, nor did any of them bring it up. And the truth was, they were too upset to talk about it.

When Offdensen told them that Dolly had left because she was sick of being there, they all shut down. The two that were the most effected were Pickles and Murderface, who were the closest to the female bassist. The other three were less than tickled pink by the news, but they weren't hurt like the drummer and the bassist were. Within a week, Murderface's bass playing degenerated to what it used to be before Dolly showed up. Without her constant support, he found no reason to really try.

Offdensen saw this and thought nothing of it. He knew that after a little while the band would bounce back and get on with recording. They would forget about Dolly Codling like they forgot about all the other extraneous characters in their lives, and continue living.

* * *

On the day that Dolly was to be released, her father and Helene showed up at the hospital with their three kids. Maggie had called them about the incident, and they told her that they would take care of Dolly. Dolly's father, Damian Codling, hadn't seen his child in years. And he was regretful that the only circumstance that brought them back together was a tragedy such as the one that Dolly found herself in.

As they went into her room, they found Dolly talking to her brothers and Maggie about what she was going to do with her life.

"... I just think they I should be taking more care of myself, you know?" She said, "I mean... I could've gotten an unanticipated _lobotomy _from this whole ordeal..."

"What's a lobotomy?" Dolly's 12-year-old half brother Geir said as he walked through the door.

Dolly turned around and smiled at him, "It's nothing, my love..." She swooped down and kissed him on the nose, "How have you been?"

"Fine." He answered matter-of-factly, "Is your eye really gone?"

Dolly winced, "I... think so. I haven't seen it in a couple weeks..." She looked and saw Damian, Helene, Gunvor and Munin – the second half-sibling – at the door. And yet again, she started to cry. Damian and Helene quickly hugged the girl to them and promised her that she would not be without help and support through what was happening to her. Maggie and the three full brothers greeted the half and step siblings with kindness and welcoming arms.

And for the first time in ages, they were a complete family.

* * *

Molly Codling had always been kind of a spoiled brat. Her parents handed her everything on a silver platter, so she was never satisfied with anything she got in life. She had a great husband, a huge, amazing family, lots of money, a great figure, and she threw it all away because she complained about not having enough.

But with General Crozier, it seemed that was not the case. He gave her things that she had never even asked for; it was as if he could read her mind. And when he said that it was time to make Dolly disappear from the ranks of Dethklok, she made no effort to stop him as he sent her an e-mail with everything they had on Dethklok, everything she had sent them, everything they had come up with. All her pictures had given them a more than decent idea of how the interior of Mordhaus looked, which was intensely helpful for any recon missions they wanted to conduct.

It had never even passed through Molly's mind that they could have killed her daughter.

And after he did that, General Crozier asked Molly go run away with him, leave that stupid little California town and move in with him. She readily agreed, and her house was cleaned out within the week.

So now, Molly was sitting pretty as Crozier's happy little housewife. She had no kids to worry about, no taxes, no shopping that had to be done... All she had to do was be there with a hot meal whenever Crozier came home. And the lack of responsibility was all she ever wanted from life. Her mind almost never drifted to Dolly and what could have been happening to her, and when it did, she convinced herself that her daughter was fine, and didn't continue to think on the subject.

Crozier on the other hand, was mildly disgusted by her lack of care for her own child. Though yes, he was very attracted to the woman, he couldn't help but want to make her care for her daughter. Crozier himself knew where she was, and was glad that the girl made it out alive. But whenever he tried to talk to Molly about Dolly, she cut him off and made it apparent that that wasn't a subject she wanted to linger on for much too long.

And soon, even her mother forgot Dolly.

* * *

But even in his hatred of Dolly, Pickles made sure that she was paid what they owed her. She found $550,000 in her bank account as soon as she checked, and almost screamed when she saw the number. Damian, who had gone with her, was equally as surprised as she, and they sat down and decided what they wanted to do with the money. Dolly wanted to spend it on herself, seeing as she had spent a good half a year taking care of a bunch of rowdy boys. Damian agreed, but insisted that she put some money off to the side for safekeeping.

So they split it in half.

Living with Helene and Damian in Stockholm was probably the best thing that had ever happened to her. In Stockholm, she spent money on belly-dancing classes, gun ranges and yoga, keeping up promise of really taking care of herself and the body she wasted in Mordhaus and in the hospital.

Her eye slowly healed, and the first time she took the bandages off and looked at what was underneath, she had no words that could describe how horrified she was. There was a large scar going from the middle of the left side of her forehead to just to the left of the bridge of her nose. Her eye was completely gone, and there was nothing but scar tissue left. She had managed to figure out how to get around the lack of depth perception, but it was still difficult without one side of peripheral vision. But like her struggle with living with only one arm, she prevailed in the end.

And along with her newfound love for life, she found a confidence in herself that she had never known was there. She lost weight, gained muscle, started wearing a humble amount of make-up, smiling more, making more friends...

And she was happier than she thought she could ever be.

Maggie had moved out to Stockholm to live with the family, but her reaction to what happened was a little different. Though she was happy with her best friend, and though her life was equally fantastic, she had lost contact with Toki. And for a long time, he had been very important to her. But after Dolly had been injured, Toki stopped talking to her.

And as Maggie struggled with this, Dolly re-integrated herself into the world of music. She auditioned for a couple bands, and though she was a little out of practice from the hospital ordeal, a bunch of them enjoyed her for her charisma and stage presence alone. For most of the bands she auditioned for, she was listed as an understudy. For a couple however, she was asked to play a permanent role. One of the reasons she was so liked among the Swedish metal populace was because she had character. Whenever asked what she name was, she simply answered, "Amputee."

And for a year, the character of the Amputee was what she played. No one knew her as Dolly, or Dodo. She hadn't seen or heard anything from Dethklok other than the passive mentions on the street. But other than that, she kept her distance. It wasn't that she didn't miss them; she missed them terribly. She missed their antics, and their amazing charisma, and their all around ability to have fun... But in that year that she had been away from them, she had changed. She was no longer that vodka guzzling train wreck she was back when she lived with them.

And by circumstance alone, did Dethklok manage to find her again.

* * *

Three months after Dolly was booted out of Mordhaus and all her stuff confiscated, Charles Foster Offdensen found the source of the information that Dolly had received: It was a viral e-mail that had overpowered any of the computer's firewall defenses, and it came from an anonymous military address. It seemed that the military was so advanced that they had managed to create a Mac virus.

And it was when he found this that the CFO figured out that he had made the most beneficial mistake in his entire life. Tracing the IP address back to its source, he found one of the many people that would be a thorn in his side for the entirety of his time with Dethklok. But he wouldn't know that until Rockso showed up a year or so later...

Nine months after that, Dethklok was invited to a music exposé in Sweden. Skwisgaar insisting and Toki imploring, the band went.

And this is where our story re-starts...

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

"Elof, where's my bass?" Dolly said, sitting backstage with her bandmates. It was the beginning of the day, and they were already at the Ericsson Globe, the largest venue in Stockholm. While Dolly flipped through their sheet music, Elof, her lead guitarist, got her bass out from its case. With a donut in his mouth, he said, "Gots i'!"

She smiled without looking at him, "Thanks. Are we setting up to rehearse soon?"

The blond man took a bite out of his donut and nodded, "Ja, we shoulds be ready soon."

Dolly really like Elof. He reminded her a lot of Skwisgaar, though Elof was a lot less stuck up, and his hair was short and spiky. But he, like Skwisgaar, had the typically tall, blond, blue-eyed look of a mostly Swedish man.

Their drummer, a British-born, Swedish-raised man named Gage Landon, came in soon afterwards with his bass drum in hand. Laying the bass drum on the floor, he sighed and wiped the sweat from his forehead, "Jag hatar lossning alla mina saker..."

"Sluta gnälla..." Dolly rolled her eyes, "English, ja?"

"Ja..." Gage dragged his fingers through his shoulder length brown hair, "Where the fuck is the stage crew?"

"We got here really early dude, they haven't even gotten here yet..." She looked at her plastic pink Hello Kitty watch, "Shit, I had no idea we got here _this_ early..."

"What times is it?" Half-Norwegian half-Swedish rhythm guitarist Orn walked in with the rest of Gage's drum kit along with his own guitar.

"It's 9:14 AM."

"What?!" The primadonna of the group, the lead singer/growler, Felix, came barreling in, of course carrying nothing. His long, bright red hair was up in a high ponytail, black eyeliner practically overpowering his naturally dark blue eyes. He was the kind of guy that wore copious amounts of make-up, but was very straight. The girls loved him.

Dolly stuck her tongue out lazily at him, "Oh shut up. It's not _that_ early. Just a little earlier than we're used to..."

Elof scowled at the lead singer as he pouted and kicked at the floor like an upset stallion, "Would yous stops complainings?"

"Would _yous_ learns hows tos speaks corrects Englishs?" Felix mocked. Felix, though equally as Scandinavian as Elof and Orn, grew up speaking both Swedish and English, and thus thought himself above the two guitarists.

And this had always been something that Elof hated. Dolly had actually thwarted many an attempt to severely poison the lead singer. Elof seemed to make it a habit to carry Rat Poison around with him, _'For practical reasons'_, he said. What practical reasons, Dolly didn't know, but she wasn't sure she wanted to find out.

Other than that, she and Elof were very close. He was someone that she looked up to as both a musician and as a person: various foster families raised him after his mother died in childbirth. His father had apparently left her days before his birth. From age 4 on he jumped from foster home to foster home until he finally turned 18 and was on his own. He busked – that is, performed on the street - for money until Orn picked him up two years later. Orn, while not that great at playing guitar, was a musical genius. His band, Ormtjusare, Swedish for Snake Charmer, the one that Dolly had joined 7 months before, had been alive for eight years in the musical underground of Sweden. Their bassist before Dolly joined was a clinically depressed young man with an inferiority complex, whom had never really contributed.

He ended up throwing himself off one the famous Stockholm bridges and drowning.

For Orn, this was more of a blessing than anything else. It allowed him to find Dolly, and he adored her. Dolly, unlike the previous bassist, overflowed with love for life and everything around her. It was as if she was taking the full extent of every emotion she could and putting it into action. She never half-heartedly did anything, and Orn really liked that about her, which was why he hired her in the first place.

"Are we set up to start rehearing yet?" Felix whined, fondling his favorite feather earring at the top of his left ear.

"Ja ja, we wills be ready soon..." Orn said, a little frustrated by Felix's lack of helpfulness.

So while Gage and Felix talked back stage, Dolly, Orn and Elof were busy setting up their equipment for rehearsal. They were one of 12 bands that would be performing that day, and they were lucky enough to get the closing performance.

They worked on the stage for an hour or so when other musical groups started showing up. There was an African dance/percussion group performing, an Irish band dedicated to ballads, a couple other Swedish bands, and even a Russian bass acapella group. It was no doubt going to be very exciting.

But Orn knew something that Dolly didn't, nor did he want her to know. Dethklok was going to be there as the sponsor's special guests, but the performers weren't supposed to know. The sponsors were going to invite them onstage right after Orn's band played their last note. He just hoped that he could get Dolly offstage before that happened. She had told him what happened to her and her eye, and that wasn't something that she needed to relapse over.

After rehearsals, it was time to start getting into costume.

Ormtjusare always took a long time to get into costume, mostly because Felix insisted that everyone attempt to look as good as he. So he spent a lot of the time not getting into costume himself, and instead critiquing everyone else's costumes. He was usually the hardest on Dolly, since she still retained some of that masculine charm from her time with Dethklok. But in the end, they always figured something out. She let him put her in something a little more girly, as long as he didn't put her in sky blue.

As Felix finished Dolly's make up, she was busied with convincing herself that she wasn't nervous... She was just sure that something bad was going to happen that night....

* * *

For the entire trip, both Skwisgaar and Toki were up in arms about going back to Scandinavia, both literally and figuratively. They held maces and whips, forcing the Klokateers to clean the Dethbus while it was in motion, and keep in clean for the entire trip. And when the first round fell off and died, the second round crawled up from underneath the flooring and continued their unfinished work. And it was going to be unfinished until they got to the performance: they were driving on dirt roads to get there.

Meanwhile, Nathan's glasses were on as he typed away at his laptop, Pickles was dictating drum beats behind him, and Murderface was asleep in the hot tub. Offdensen had decided that it would be a good idea to go with the band for the first time in ages, seeing as the exposé was the biggest production in Swedish history within the past 50 years, and he wasn't taking any chances: those kinds of things were usually melting pots for every kind of assassin out there.

As soon as they arrived at the Ericsson Globe, they were rushed inside to make sure they weren't seen. The Dethbus was stashed under the Globe, hidden from prying eyes. Dethklok themselves were put up in the highest box seating, with every luxury known to Swedish men surrounding them. Of course, this was to be expected, but Skwisgaar especially took special pride in how they were being treated. Just to show off, he would talk in Swedish to the waiters and waitresses. The others, minus Toki who was like an excited puppy, just sat back and enjoyed the pre-show Swedish liquor.

The MC arrived on stage, with a bright white smile and a crisp clean suit, blond and blue eyed like the rest of Sweden. He spoke in Swedish, and the Klokateer translator quickly repeated everything he was saying in English.

"Welcome, everyone!" The MC said brightly, "It is so good to see you all here. My name is Linus, as I'm sure many of you already know, and we are all here today to see these _wonderful _performers in action. Now, this is an _exposé_, so the names of all these fantastic composers, performers and choreographers will appear on the screen behind me as each performance goes by. This is for _your benefit_; take advantage of this beautiful display of artistry and mastery!" He gestured to the screen, where a couple names popped up, "For our first act...!"

And he went on to name a Swedish dance company. Dethklok watched as a group of men burst onto the stage with a blast of music and started jerking around like dying crabs. It was quite strange, though the audience seemed to like it. Pickles, though quite intoxicated already, felt the need to drink even more, so as to pretend that he wasn't watching a bunch of shirtless men bouncing around stage, and maybe instead a strip show or a... wedding, or something. Anything with more boobs. Anything.

Nathan's face was in his palm, "Huuuuh... Too much testosterone..."

"I ah... know what you mean, Nathan." Offdensen sympathized, not quite enamored by the crab-like, buff men cavorting about the stage.

That act was soon over, and all five men sighed in relief. That was the one problem with these exposé's, you never quite knew what you would get...

The next group wasn't all that bad; it was a female belly-dancing troupe. There were only five of them, but their stage presence was full and welcoming. The one in the middle, a brown-haired woman, probably around 25, was the only one with her hair down, her bangs covering her left eye. The other four had their hair up out of their faces. But it was almost as if the one in the middle used her hair to stand out. Pickles had noticed this and looked up onto the screen just as it flashed away from the names of the dancers and onto the choreographers. But he thought that he had seen a name that was more than just familiar to him...

Drunk off his ass, he was seeing more than just familiar names, though.

The belly-dancing troupe was quite talented, and Dethklok was more than happy to take a reprieve from undulating men. And in their own ways, they each found something familiar in the middle dancer. Somehow, the way she moved resonated with all of them...

And the resonation wasn't between her hips and their genitals, no, it was more like, the way she held a tambourine reminded Pickles of how someone holds a fancy drink.

Or the pattern her steps made reminded Murderface of a drunken friend stumbling around in an intoxicated dance.

Or the way her visible eye was half closed and her lips slightly tilted into a calm, satisfied smile reminded Nathan of the look on a good friend's face after a long night of improvising music.

It bothered them all how she had made such an impression on them by just doing what she probably did naturally, but none of their minds lingered on it much after the troupe was finished and left the stage.

The next few groups were decent bands, though they couldn't even compare to Dethklok. Not so strangely, they each did one Dethklok cover... badly. The band was unimpressed, and kept to themselves as they mumbled incoherently and continued drinking. Toki had reached his limit and ran to their custom bathroom to puke all the alcohol out. Skwisgaar was kind of buzzed, but it took a lot to really get him drunk. Nathan was a guzzler, and depended on his routine liver transplants to keep him going.

Murderface was really the only one who didn't want to drink that night. He had a couple beers periodically through the night, but he just wasn't feeling it that night. The performance whizzed by them all, and soon, they came upon the final performance; probably the only one that they had wanted to see. Ormtjusare, the band with the mildly famous Amputee bass player, was on last, and the band attempted to pay attention through their drunkenness.

A man with a bright red blast of hair came out in all black leather, a pierced tongue already whipped out and pairing with the devil horned finger position in the air. The rest of his band seemed almost ashamed as they came out behind him. All were men, minus the Amputee, who was a woman... Murderface was the only one that noticed that she was the same woman from the belly-dancing troupe.

Curious as to who she was, he looked at the screen as the names popped up... He couldn't really pronounce the last names, so he just stuck to the first names as he named them off in his head...

_Felix..._

_Elof..._

_Orn..._

_Dolly "the Amputee" Codling..._

_Ga—_

_... Wait..._

"Holy fuck!!" He suddenly yelled, standing up with a second wind.

Toki, arriving back in the room, screamed and ran back to the bathroom, a second puke session erupting from the sudden yell.

"What the fuck, Murderface?!" Nathan barked.

"Dude!! That fucking basschischt—It'sch DOLLY!" Murderface cried, pointing at the bassist as she plugged in her bass and tucked her brown hair behind her right ear, left eye still veiled under strands of hair.

Offdensen tensed considerably as Nathan shook his head, "Who the fuck is that?"

"Dodo!! Dolly!! That chick... dude... bitch that schpent like, a half a year with usch a year ago! My old_ mother fucking BASSCH teacher!!"_ Murderface was considerably distressed by the appearance of the bass teacher gone AWOL a year earlier.

It finally clicked with Nathan as he looked down at the bassist and his eyes widened, "Whoa... I thought she died." Taking a second look, he added on, "And she looks pretty good..."

Skwisgaar's eyes brows raised, "What happensed to hers anyway?"

"She ah... had to leave. Personal business." Offdensen answered relatively quickly.

"She didn't even say go'bye, though!" Pickles slurred, "I mean, after ever'ting... we went trough..." He looked as if he were close to tears, "I fucking missd'er! And now she shows up in fucking _Sweden_ of all places!"

"I can, ah... arrange a meeting after the concert if you'd like." Offdensen said tightly.

"If you would be scho kind." Murderface said, resent obvious in his tone. He knew that Offdensen hadn't looked for her.

But really, why should Offdensen have looked for her? She had no place in Mordhaus after she had finished what she needed to with Murderface, and after a while, she was just getting in the way.

And, looking down at the thin, belly-dancing, mildly famous bassist they once knew as Dodo, the fat, drinking slob bassist, it had been a good idea to let her go. Before they knew it, Ormtjusare's first song was over. And to their slight disappointment, Dolly gave her bass to the lead singer, who nodded at her, kissed her cheek, and strapped the bass onto himself as the woman took his spot at the microphone.

"What the fuck? She can't sing, why did they put her there?" Nathan thought aloud.

A blond woman walked on stage and bowed, a spotlight appearing on an otherwise unseen keyboard set. She sat down at it and looked at Dolly, who gave her a nod and a smile. The blond woman smiled back, and began to play. She played the first few measures of the song on her own, and the rest of them joined in. Dolly took in a deep breath and began to sing, in the deep, unmistakable alto-tenor that the band knew so well...

_Laugh, my darling, laugh  
Hold your head up now  
Just hold me tight  
We still have tonight..._

"... I was wrong." Nathan said shallowly. Though raw and untrained, Dolly had developed a voice. The timbre of her voice was very different, rich and rough and... unbearably familiar. They had never seen her perform on stage until that night; she was a natural. She stood so easily in front of all those people, feet shoulder width apart, hands cupped around the microphone as she continued to sing.

"_Lit... the night... with your..."_ She smiled, as if remembering something dear to her, _"Smile!  
Charm me again  
With those emerald eyes  
Charm me again  
Hangman's lullaby..."_

"Who do you think she's talking about?" Nathan nudged Skwisgaar, who shrugged.

"Dood, I got green eyes. Obviously she's ta'kin' about me." Pickles said confidently, bumping his chest with his fist.

"Well I do too!" Murderface interjected, "And I'm the charming one, Picklesch, not you!!"

"Uuuh... I have green eyes too, Murderface." Nathan pointed out.

Offdensen sighed, and decided not to point out that he too had green eyes. The only two of their group that didn't have green eyes, were the two Scandinavian guitarists. And as the three green eyed artists fought, Skwisgaar watched the transformed woman on stage, moving back and forth to the beat of the music, her eyes closed, enjoying every moment of it.

"_Everything... will be... fine."_ Dolly hit a note that was relatively deep for even Skwisgaar, "_And now it's time, kiss me, goodnight!"_

She splayed her fingers and threw her head back, belting out the notes as she spread her feet apart and buckled her knees inward. The blond guitarist had to admit: she wasn't bad at being a performer.

The song finished up with the piano, and the crowd erupted into applause and screams and jumping fans. The performers bowed deeply as Dolly laughed and said into the microphone, "Thank you all so much! You're a fantastic audience!"

All of a sudden, the Dethklok song Murmaider blared on the speakers, and Dolly jumped like a rabbit getting shot at. She blanched and glanced around apprehensively. Orn's eyes clouded over with disgust as he looked at the right wing of the stage. A man nodded at Orn and walked briskly on stage, capturing Dolly and taking her offstage. The rest of the band stayed on and waved to the crowd as the MC reappeared and started talking...

* * *

"Kenneth..." Dolly breathed, looking up at the man that pulled her offstage, "Why did they start playing Dethklok...?"

"They're good filler music." The brown haired man answered, rolling his eyes, "Look, let's get out of here. I know you have work tomorrow, and you must be exhausted..."

The woman smiled a little, "Yeah, I am pretty tired..." She sighed, "What would I do without you, my love?"

Kenneth chuckled, "I don't know. Nor do I want to find out." He kissed her, "Come on, you can spend the night at my place..." He pulled her onto his back, and as she laced her arms around his neck, he walked the two of them out of the Ericsson Globe...

* * *

"Uuuh..." Nathan pointed at the man that pulled Dolly offstage, "Offdensen, why are you down there?"

Pickles squinted, "Hey! How can you be doun dere... and up here at the same time?"

"I knew it! He ischn't human! He hasch _dopplegangersch!!" _Murderface yelled.

Offdensen crossed his arms, "I'm not down there, guys. That man just... looks a lot like me." He narrowed his eyes, "It, ah... looks like you won't be seeing Dol... Miss Codling, tonight."

"Find out where she'll be tomarrow." Pickles said militarily, "We'll go see her there."

Offdensen was slightly tempted to click his heels and give a salute, but instead he just nodded and left the room while the boys talked about what had happened that night...

* * *

Thanks to Offdensen's endless amount of connections and insight, he was able to find out that Dolly Codling, when she wasn't working with her band, was working at the nearby orphanage. When he told the band, there was a group grimace. Orphanages weren't places where a death metal band could... safely make an appearance seem metal. But Pickles and Murderface somehow talked them into it.

However, Offdensen insisted that he speak to the woman first. They had some issues they had to settle before the band got to see her. And who knew, maybe she didn't want to see them at all...

A nurse led Offdensen into one of the rooms at the farthest back of the orphanage, to a room marked "Maternity Ward". Humming an unspeakable question to himself, Offdensen uneasily followed the woman into the sectioned off area of the orphanage. The woman smiled and pointed to a door, "She and the other wet nurses are in here."

Offdensen flinched visibly, "Thank you."

He halfway opened the door, the view slightly repugnant to him: more or less the _ugliest_ outcast women of Swedish society, taking drugs to make their milk production kick itself into overdrive, feeding maybe two babies at a time. He had never been very fond of babies. It never clicked with him why people would waste their time on a child that, no doubt, would become just another stupid conformer in society.

He opened the door a little bit more and glanced about...

Dolly was there, a child at her breast, separated from the rest of the babbling women. While most of them looked dirty, old or mentally retarded, she looked... relatively normal. She belonged in a garden, not the cold, white, sterile walls of the orphanage.

A couple of the uglier ones noticed Offdensen at the door and, mistaking him for Kenneth, yelled at Dolly in Swedish: "Your hubby's at the door! Get him out of here!"

A little confused, Dolly stood up and handed the child she was nursing off to another woman, pulling up her shirt as the approached the door, smiling a little awkwardly as she said, "Kenneth, I thought you said you were—"

As soon as she saw who was _really_ at the door, she stopped talking. Without wasting any time, she shut herself and Offdensen out in the hallway. She crossed her arms, an almost hopeless look on her face, "Have you come to finish the job, or what...?"

"_The job_, as you referred to it, was done a year ago." Offdensen said, "What are you talking about?"

Dolly pulled back her hair, the scarred eye in full view, "Your little Klokateers chickened out and didn't kill me with that _accidental_ shard of glass that nearly impaled my brain. I guess they thought I would die of exposure, or blood loss, or _insanity_ or something, because they left me out to die after they smashed that beer bottle in my face."

Offdensen paused for a moment... And then adjusted his glasses, "It was ah... never my intention to have you killed, Miss Codling."

Dolly faltered, "So... then that was a fluke...?"

"It must have been. I instructed the Klokateers to hold you for questioning, and then leave you to your own devices. Since the weapon of choice was a beer bottle, I'm assuming the two that were supposed to be looking over you were drunk."

Dolly nodded, "Among other things..."

"I will be sure to have them severely punished when we return to Mordhaus."

"... We?"

"Dethklok and I."

Dolly winced, "Speaking of... Why are you here, if you're not here to kill me?"

"A couple months after you left, I got around to tracing who sent you that e-mail... And when I realized that it was _viral_, and you had no control over it, I realized my mistake. So for that, I apologize."

Dolly was dumbstruck, "You came here... to apologize to me?"

"And ah, the boys saw you perform and recognized... your name, on the screen. They, mostly Murderface and Pickles, would like to see you again."

Dolly broke out into a grin, "I would love to see them again!! Where and when?"

"The Dethbus will be outside your house tomorrow morning."

Dolly paled, "I'm not so sure that we would be a good idea..."

"Why is that?"

"Everyone I know hates you and Dethklok... Because of um..." She pointed at her eye, "And I don't want there to be any unnecessary drama..."

"... I see. Meet us at the Natural History Museum, then."

She nodded, "I will. I have to get back to work, but um..." She quickly threw her arms around the manager's neck, "Thank you." She ran back into the room.

Offdensen straightened out his necktie, and exited the building...

* * *

Jag hatar lossning alla mina saker... : I hate unloading all my stuff ...

Sluta gnälla... : Stop whining...


	7. If Reunions Could Talk

Waaah. It's been too long. So, I'm making it a freaking rule that I have to write for fanfiction at least an hour a night. God knows I fuck around on the internet too much anyway.

Yay for Metalocalypse returning in May! They only got like, 5 episodes up before they had to take a break! What the hell? Oh well.

Enjoy!

And thanks for all the reviews xD Much appreciated~

**Deth, Come Near Me**

**Canto 7: If Reunions Could Talk**

Rather early in the morning, Dolly woke up, a smile on her lips. She gathered all her things that she would need for the day, and walked out without waking her family. She took a taxi into the area of Stockholm that had the Natural History Museum in it. She knew that they wouldn't be there for another couples of hours, but she wanted to get there early just in case. She sat on the steps and brought out a book, wrapping her scarf around her neck a couple more times. She sat there and began to read... But soon nodded off. She never was much of a reader, anyway...

The clock struck 10 o'clock as the Dethbus pulled up to the Natural History Museum, and the boys piled out.

"Where isch shche?" Murderface asked, looking around.

Offdensen, having the sharpest eyes of the bunch, noticed the bundle of sleeping woman on the steps. He walked over to her and lightly nudged her with his foot. The woman grumbled something and opened her eye, drowsily looking up at Offdensen and smiling...

Before Pickles and Murderface tackled her. Laughing, she squeezed them both, tears in her eye as they pulled her up and began yelling at her for leaving. She apologized profusely, cupping Murderface's face as she said, "I am especially sorry to you, William. Let me buy you a cup of coffee?"

"Fine. Asch long asch it hasch booze in it..." He mumbled, but she could see the little smile on his lips. He was just as happy that she was back as she was...

They all drove to Dahlen's Coffee Shop on another Stockholm island, and Dolly bought all of them coffee.

They stayed there for hours. Dolly told them about her escapades in Sweden, and they told her about... everything.

"I really liked your latest album..." Dolly said, sipping her overly sweetened cup of coffee, "I heard a couple thousand people drowned themselves because of it. Nice."

"Actually it was uh... a million." Nathan corrected, a crooked smile cracking his lips, "And thank you."

She shook her head, "I honestly can't believe that people would do that... Don't people know that we can't breathe underwater? Honestly... It's like they believe you can change the laws of _physics_ just because you sing about something."

"Ay wonder wut would happen if we wrote some'ting about aboot being able t' flai..." Pickles snickered, "Maybe dey would t'row demselves off'a cliffs 'er some'ting."

"I honestly would not be surprised." Dolly laughed, "... You guys know that I didn't leave because I wanted to, right?"

"Oh yeuh, sure." Pickles shrugged, "Wutever, nothin' we can do aboot it now."

Dolly smiled, "Good..."

"Now you can come back." Pickles added on, his roguish grin gracing his lips.

Her smile fell away, "Oh Pickles... I can't come back."

"Why not?!" Murderface yelled.

"I... I have a duty to be here for _my_ band mates, Murderface."

"But dey's don't matter now dat you has us back!" Toki said, "... Rights?"

She shook her head, "It doesn't work like that, Toki..." She stood up, "I think I should go..."

Murderface stood up, stomping, "Fine, you schtupid schlut!! Leave like you did lascht time!!"

Dolly shook her head and took his hand, "I can't stay with you this time, William. I don't have a job with you guys... And I have a boyfriend. And a band. And all my family is here. I can't leave them all because you want me to hang around with you... I'm sorry."

He ripped his hand from hers and mumbled, "All the pretty onesch are bitchesch..."

She sighed, "Thank you, Mr. Offdensen... Bye you guys, maybe I'll see you later." She picked up her bag and walked out...

* * *

A month passed, and Dolly never told anyone that she had seen Dethklok.

Well... Not until the night of April 19th.

Skillfully fastening his bowtie, Kenneth smiled a little at Dolly as she slipped on a heel, "I got these reservations a month ago... It usually takes at least three to get a place better than the kitchen floor..."

"And I appreciate it, my love~" She said, standing up and kissing his cheek.

He chuckled, looping his arm around her waist as he brushed her bangs in front of her left eye, "You should let me get you that surgery... I'd love to see you with two eyes."

"You know that I don't like surgery, Ken..." She murmured, setting her head on his shoulder, "And I like myself like this..."

"I know you're proud of your battle wounds." He chuckled again, "Come on, we'll be late."

As they arrived at the restaurant, Kenneth patted something in his pocket. A small box perhaps? Something along those lines?

The two of them were seated by the window, with a view of the beautiful, bright-lights nighttime of Stockholm. They could see the water, and one of the Stockholm bridges. The colors were absolutely entrancing.

"Oh Kenneth..." Dolly breathed, "It's beautiful! I don't think I've ever seen anything _half_ as gorgeous as this...!"

"I know I have." Kenneth said, covering her hand with his, "You."

She giggled, something she did on very rare occasions, "You know I love your cheese..."

"It's not cheese, Dolly." He said, "I think you're the most beautiful thing in the world..."

Dolly paused, unsure as to how to answer him, "Um... Thank you, Ken..."

He smiled, smoothing back his dark brown hair, brown eyes shimmering in the candlelight, "I have something to give you. Close your eyes, and hold out your hands."

Dolly grinned, bit her lip, closed her eyes and held out her hands...

She felt something metal slip onto her finger and she started as Kenneth said, "Miss Dolly Codling, will you marry me?"

Her eyes snapped open, moving to stare at the huge _rock_ on the ring that was now on her finger. She felt tears in her eye and looked at the man she loved, "I..."

"You'll never have to work again! You know how much money I make my love. You'll never have to come home complaining again... And you'll be happy. I'll make sure of it." He added on, seeming a little nervous.

A little thrown, Dolly cocked an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

"I mean... You won't have to interact with those horrible, smelly band men ever again. Orn is alright, but the rest of them, especially _Elof_, are just... You must _hate_ being there."

Dolly stood up, knocking the table off balance, "I'm sorry, but I _love _being with my band. And _screw you_ for thinking that I would become your little housewife!"

"Dolly, you know that I want the best for you—"

"No you don't!!" She yelled, getting the attention of most of the restaurant, "Come to think of it, you want the _worst_ for me! You _hate_ my arm and my eye, you _despise_ all my friends, you _really_ don't like my singing—What DO you like about me, Ken?"

"... I'm not going to play your game, Doll. You know that I love you. This is probably just another one of your angry moments, and I know that we'll get past it—"

"I met Dethklok."

Kenneth stopped in his tracks.

"Yeah, when they came here for the exposé, I met them for coffee the next day. It was _fantastic_. I had the most fun I had _ever_ had. And I turned down their offer to come back, to be with a..." She waved her hand, trying to find the right word, "_Jackass."_

Kenneth's eyes narrowed, "Dolly, don't test me..."

"I'm not. I've tested, tasted, and thrown you up. You're obviously poisonous or something. Good-bye, Kenneth. You can keep your _fucking_ ring." She carelessly tossed the ring behind her as she walked away, a couple Swedish women cheering for her as she left.

* * *

A month later, she finally managed to get in contact with the people that booked Dethklok for events. She battled with the man on the phone for 4 hours, until she got the deal that she wanted: Murderface, for $300,000, to come to a Swedish heavyweight-boxing event as their celebrity guest. Felix's older brother was an Olympic gold-medalist in heavyweight boxing, and they were going to have a fundraising event for beaten and raped men and women. Which was kind of ironic, men beating each other up for the sake of beaten men, but Dolly ignored that part. Felix asked her to get someone important, so she got Murderface. He was the only one the man on the phone would offer for such a _low_ price, but he was the only one that she really wanted.

She ended up using the remainder of the money she got from Dethklok, in an attempt to get them back. She had explained the situation to her band and her family, and they all, some grudgingly, understood. Dethklok, though dysfunctional, was like the family she had always wanted, before Damian and Helene took her into their home after her eye incident. And she felt like it was time to give it another shot. If it didn't work, she would return to Sweden, while still remaining their friends. If it _did_ work, she would visit Sweden as often as she could...

But at the moment, the only thing that she was worried about, was Murderface's reaction when she went to pick him up at the airport.

...

Murderface, in his own _personal_ jet, ground his teeth as the plane landed; plane rides were never his thing. The only thing he was really looking forward to was Dolly Codling, _on her knees_ to get him back. He smiled; he would have her on her knees for _something, _that was for sure...

He got out of the plane, he was sure that he would see an endless sea of people, screaming his name...

But there was only one person.

That person was Dolly.

And all his perverse, hate-filled thoughts were out the door. They ran at each other, the female leaping into the male as they both fell to the floor, rolling around and wrestling like puppies. And again, she was Dodo for a couple moments. Murderface missed his friend, and he had her again. They pulled each other up, and for the first time in a while for both of them, they felt compelled to run to where they needed to go.

When they got to the arena where the boxing fundraiser was being held, there was no question that Dolly was returning to Dethklok. Elof and Orn met Murderface with some disdain, disliking that Dolly was paying more attention to him than to them. But Gage and Felix welcomed him with open arms, hoping that some of his wealth would rub off on them. Murderface was introduced to Alvar, Felix's brother, who got the fundraiser together. He didn't bother meeting any of the other boxers, insisting that "They were going to be dead soon anyway".

Given the best box seat in the house, the two of them spent the night drinking, laughing and doing what they did before Dolly lost her eye.

But this time around, Dolly knew how to pace herself.

She had packed to leave for Mordhaus before the fundraiser, so as the end rolled around, she took all her stuff from backstage and loaded all her stuff into Murderface's limo.

The goodbyes were short and kind of sarcastic. As Dolly hugged Elof, he said, "You will bes back soons enough..."

She laughed, "I'll miss you too, blondie."

Orn sighed, "I don'ts know where I'll gets a bassist as good as yous, Dolly."

She hugged him, "You'll find someone... And I can always come back and help you out~ I won't be gone forever."

Felix kissed both her cheeks and made her promise to send him cash as often as she could. Gage and Dolly had never been very close, so they exchanged a friendly handshake. Having already said her goodbyes to her family, Dolly shipped off with Murderface...

Back to Mordhaus.

She split from Murderface and was met by a couple Klokateers, who gladly brought her stuff to her room for her. The room she was staying in was, in fact, the same one she had before. Refurbished and with all her old stuff in it. Offdensen met Dolly at her room, and leaned on the doorframe, "Is it to your liking, Miss Codling?"

She turned around and smiled, "I love it, Mr. Offdensen... Thank you. This means a lot to me." She laughed, "Though I'm not so sure about what I'll be _doing_ around here, since I won't be teaching Murderface..."

"We'll figure something out... Dinner at 7." He turned and left. Dolly found her old computer, de-virused and updated with all the latest software and video games she could ever want. On the screen, a message opened up:

"_Welcome home."_

She laughed, saving the file and closing the computer, opening up all her drawers and throwing on a pair of old black pants, a tighter black shirt and skipping off to dinner.

* * *

As Murderface licked his hand and attempted to slick back his hair, Nathan and Skwisgaar talked at the end of the table.

"I knews she woulds come back..." The blond insisted, "She may nots be a slut, but she ams attracted to fames and fortunes..."

"I think that, uh... works in our favor." Nathan replied, a little surprised by Skwisgaar's insight, "Hopefully she won't get fat and ugly again... It would remind me too much of my mother... And how she got fat and ugly after she popped me out."

Skwisgaar chuckled, "Yours moms is not dat bad looking's, Nathan..."

"Yes she is _that bad looking_. And that's why you like her."

Dolly opened the doors to the dining room, and smiled, seeing all the boys in their pajamas. Toki was cross-legged on his chair, his chin on the table, apathetically licking a glob of ice cream that he had let slip from his spoon. Pickles was drumming on the table with one hand and shaking a martini with the other. Murderface was looking at himself in the mirror and trying out different kinds of grimaces, and his hair looked a little greasy. Skwisgaar and Nathan, conversing in the corner, were the first to see Dolly enter into the room.

Skwisgaar, slick as hair gel, kicked out a chair and invited her to join the conversation. She sat, cross-legged on her chair like Toki, and grinned, freshly brushed teeth glistening in the low lights. Toki and Pickles, done with their ice cream and martini shaking respectively, soon joined the circle of chairs, and Murderface followed soon after.

"Why dids your boyfriends look so much like Offdensens?" Toki asked, curling his toes.

Dolly blinked, "I um... don't know. It was never really my intention to get with someone that looked like Mr. Offdensen... I guess it just kinda happened."

"I'll bet she wants to fuck Offdensen..." Nathan chuckled, "But uh... He wasn't there, so she got his body double."

"Whoa whoa! I just got back, do we really have to start on who my ex-boyfriend looks like?"

"Ex?" Skwisgaar raised an eyebrow, "You... dumpeds him?"

She sighed, rubbing her eye, "Yeah... He really was a jackass..." She smiled, "But it got me back with you guys, right?"

Pickles, not quite drunk yet, wrapped his arm around Dolly's shoulders, "Damn straight." He handed her the martini, "I'll drink to dat."

"You'll drink to anything." She chuckled, taking a sip of the liquor. The doors swung open and dinner arrived. They all scrambled to their seats, and, on the count of three, they all dug into their food like wild boars. And they were together again; though, at the moment, Dolly was definitely the happiest.


	8. Quaerō: To Seek

Hi! :D So, in order to add a little more surprise and variety into this story, I have decided to take a kind of different direction. After writing and posting this, I will put the names of five love interests - excluding Toki because I have plans for him and including Offdensen - into a hat, and pick one. That one will be the love interest that I will be focusing on for the rest of the story. And I cannot go back on it as soon as I've chosen it. It may bring up some rather strange and off-kilter story lines and a weird way of going about things, but that's what experimentation is for, yeah?

I know I've already sort of set it up that Pickles and Murderface are really interested in Dolly, I know. And if I pick either one of them, then that's the direction in which the story will go! If it's one of the other three... Well, all the more interesting, no?

Anyway, this chapter is sort of messing around with Dolly's relationship with the band members and their enigmatic "fearless leader" type manager. It may seem a little Mary-Sue-ish at times, but please remember, this is purely experimental. And I think I've held up my end of the bargain anyway; Dolly is not a Mary-Sue as far as I'm concerned. And as soon as I narrow the love interest down to one, she will be even less so.

Anyway, I'll stop rambling! This is quite a long chapter, so I hope you enjoy!

**Deth, Come Near Me**

Canto 8: Quaerō – To seek

The morning was almost too beautiful, a rare couple of birds chirping on the electric fencing. Unfortunately, the power in Mordhaus had gone out due to some strange glitch in the system, and all of Mordhaus was without electricity, especially since Offdensen didn't want to waste the power of the backup generator. It was a day that Dolly cherished, but the band was practically tearing their hair out from boredom. Poor Murderface almost broke his rather expensive laptop because the message "Unable to Connect" kept popping up on his screen every time he typed "Banana" into the passkey slot. However, he _did_ break it once the battery ran out and he was unable to plug it back in to recharge.

Skwisgaar almost passed out in boredom as his fingers found the notes for him, and continued on even as the Swedish blond lost consciousness. At his feet were Nathan and Pickles, who were probably the most contented with the blackout. Pickles didn't need electricity to play his drums and get drunk, and Nathan didn't need electricity to death growl and get drunk. So they got rather drunk, and played poker while they waited for something to happen.

Toki was in his room, wailing on his guitar, pretending to be lead guitarist. He clenched his eyes shut and head banged to the flimsy notes of his guitar, an imaginary audience screaming, and imaginary cute girls letting out their imaginary twins.

Back in the living room with a great fire roaring in the fireplace, Dolly sighed, listening to Skwisgaar slur tired melodies on his guitar. Next to her, Murderface sat and stared into the fire, one knee into his chest. Nathan lost a third time to Pickles at 5 Card Draw, especially since Pickles was cheating shamelessly.

"We need to do something." Dolly said, standing up.

"Like what?" Nathan sighed.

"Like get out! I haven't been to the beach in a while, lets go there!"

"... Why the fuck not." Nathan pointed to a Klokateer at the door, "You, go get Toki. We're leaving in ten minutes."

Dolly blinked a little, surprised at how quickly he agreed, and looked at the three others. Pickles had his typical smirk on, probably thinking about the girls at the beach. Skwisgaar had snorted awake, and stood up to get his things together. Murderface was the only one that seemed a little irked.

"What's wrong, Murderface?" Dolly asked, putting her hand on his shoulder.

"I hate the beachsh..." He muttered.

"Why's that?"

"Look at me! I'm fat and I'm ugly, why would I want to be at the beachsh?!"

"Because it's fun...? You don't have to look good to go to the beach, Murderface." Dolly laughed, "I've gone and spent my time kicking sand in kids faces, and no one cares what you look like when you kick sand in kids' faces."

Murderface grumbled and stood up, "Fine, I'll go... As long asch I get to kick schand in people'sch facesch."

"Murderface, I don't think—"

Toki burst in, inner tube in hand and bathing suit already on, "Beach!! Oh wowee, I haven'ts beens to de beach in forevers!"

Dolly smiled and shook her head. She ran back to her room and gathered up her bathing suit, just making it back in time to join the boys on the Dethcopter. Offdensen insisted that he come along, since beaches were extremely open areas, and you never knew when there could be someone hiding with a sniper rifle in the waves, and blah blah blah... Dolly knew that he just wanted to come to the beach. Poor guy was always holed up in his office.

"Where to, my lady?" The pilot asked as Dolly leaned on the back on his chair.

"Hm... Well, I hear Lanikai is beautiful this time of year. How about Lanikai in Oahu?" She said.

"Very well my lady."

"Oh geez, please don't call me that... Dolly is really fine."

"I'm sorry my lady, but I have to give you the utmost respect, so I shall continue to call you my lady." The pilot smiled a little, "And it is a pleasure to do so."

Dolly smiled, defeated, "Alright, if you insist..."

She met a Klokateer in the hallway that led her to where the boys were. Upon hearing apparent cries of pain, she quickly entered the room...

"Christ Murderface, how did ya get so good at bowling?!" Pickles yelled after Murderface rolled a strike.

"My uh... My grandmother dragged me to all her bowling funcshions. I usually... bowled by myschelf in order to get away from all the schmelly old people." Murderface answered a little quietly.

"... Dood, that's so sad."

"Yeah, I know."

Dolly walked up to the two, "Can I play?"

"Believe me Dolly, it's naht as fun as it looks." Pickles shook his head.

"Oh come on! You roll a heavy thing down a lane and it knocks down other things. What isn't fun about that?" She picked up a silver bowling ball and stood at one of the lanes, "When I was younger, my brother took me to the bowling alley to see his friends and I'd play by myself and pretend that all the pins were people that I hated." She chucked the bowling ball down the lane with the grace of a one legged ostrich, and the ball just barely managed to knock three pins down. She laughed, "That doesn't mean I was very good at it, though..."

Pickles snickered, "I'll play ya."

"You're on, fucker."

The friendly game of bowling soon escalated into a full on war between Pickles and Dolly, and the other band mates easily picked sides. Murderface and Toki cheered Dolly on while Nathan and Skwisgaar howled at Pickles from the sidelines. The two of them were essentially tied, being at about the same level of suckage. Spares were rather rare, and strikes were nowhere to be seen.

On their last turns, Pickles was down a couple points or so, and it was his turn. Having learned something from his game, and after knocking down a good half of the pins, Pickles let out a war cry and with his second ball, dashed forward, stopped _right_ before the slippery lane began and hurled the ball forward, earning himself a spare. Grinning with superiority, he looked back at Dolly, "Yer turn, Doll."

Dolly smiled sarcastically, "Shove it. I can still win."

"Yeuh, I'd like ta see you try. Remember, if Ay win, you wear dat tiny little bathing suit we have stashed fer occasions like this."

"Right, and if _I_ win, you have to stay sober for this entire trip." Dolly's smirk and Pickles' look of dread were more than enough to say that the latter condition was the worst of the two.

Picking up the silver bowling ball, Dolly took a breath and stepped up to the lane. With Nathan and Skwisgaar hissing and growling at her to lose, and Toki and Murderface hollering and yelling respectively for her to not fuck up, she sighed and turned around, "Jesus fucking Christ, shut up!!"

Reluctantly shutting their mouths, the band waited in hushed anticipation as Dolly pulled her arm back and—

"Cock!" Pickles chirped just as Dolly let go of the ball. She tripped up a little, turned back to glare at Pickles and was about to yell at him, but the sound of way too many pins cracking against her bowling ball stopped her. She managed to knock down more than half of them, but there was no way she would be able to knock down the remaining few. Sighing, she conceded. Murderface tallied up the points and shrugged his shoulders, "It'sch a tie."

Toki clapped his hands anyway, but Nathan and Skwisgaar rolled their eyes. Both Pickles and Dolly were panting, still hyped up with adrenaline unspent. Laughing, Dolly punched Pickles lightly in the shoulder, "You're an asshole. You know that, right?"

"Heh, of course ay do." Downing the rest of his beer, he grinned, "I'll kick yer ass next time."

"Yeah whatever, you wish."

Offdensen walked up to them, "Ah, Pickles, can I have a moment with Miss Codling?"

The redhead shrugged and walked off to join the other boys. Dolly looked up at Offdensen, "You know, I'd _really_ you rather call me Dolly."

"Apologies." Offdensen glanced back at the band, laughing at Murderface as Nathan gave him a severe noogie, "I have yet to tell them about, ah... Your arm, or your eye, if you were wondering."

Dolly nodded, "I figured. Seeing as none of them have noticed that I hide one eye behind a lock of hair at all times, I didn't think you had told them. I was planning on telling them soon, anyway."

"I think that would be wise."

Dolly smiled a little, "Good to have you on the trip, Offdensen."

Before he could respond, Dolly pranced back over to the band to attempt to get her ex-bass student out of the meat grinders that Nathan called his hands. Offdensen couldn't help wondering how exactly Dolly managed to hide her mutilations from the band, but he didn't linger on the issue long as Hawaii came into sight. Even he had to admit, the beach sounded like a good idea. And it was. Toki especially couldn't help himself as he leapt up and down at a window, turning around with such force that he actually punched a Klokateer out said window. But of course, no one noticed as the sounds of waves became louder and louder.

As soon as the Dethcopter landed, Dolly and the five men ran screaming like children all the way down to the ocean, where they threw themselves into the clean, light blue waves. Toki and Skwisgaar soon found a palm branch that resembled a guitar, and proceeded to fight over who found it first. Nathan and Murderface, once they were done terrifying all the fish they could find, moved on to work on the tans they would never get.

Dolly played by the shore, busying herself with catching sand crabs and putting them in her haphazardly made sandcastle. Of course, the crabs would just burrow into the sand, but that didn't stop her from finding more and sprinkling them on. She tied her hair up into a quick ponytail, grains of sand drizzled into her brown hair as she smoothed out sides of the castle. Nearby, but further from the shore, Pickles was downing his third beer of the day. He was never much of an appreciator for the supposed "Beauty of Nature", but even he had to admit, it was an unsurpassably awesome day. There was a distinct lack of brutality, that was for sure, but even brutal hard asses like Dethklok had to take a day off every now and again.

Pickles couldn't help but spy Dolly out of the corner of his eye, grinning like an idiot at the little animals that she found to inhabit her sandcastle. He spotted faint white lines at her hips; most likely stretch marks from when she was fat, awesome Dodo. After she started getting fat and vulgar that long time ago, the familiar little touches, hugs and kisses on the cheek between the two of them diminished, and they became really good buddies, but there was no sexual tension. Pickles had to admit though, he liked her skinny and happy a lot more than fat and depressed.

Murderface, tired of sunbathing without any positive results, stood and glanced over at Pickles, who was staring at something. Following his gaze, he saw that the drummer had yet again set his sites on the young female bassist. A possessive sensation bubbling up in the pit of his stomach, Murderface made his way over to the young bassist. Pickles eyes caught Murderface, and they narrowed as he approached Dolly.

Dolly noticed Murderface approaching her and she smiled, waving at him as she stood.

"Do'ya like it?" She asked, bumping the bassist with her hip. Her bathing suit was far from slutty, but it showed enough to make Murderface wonder.

"I like it as mushch as I could like a schand cachstle..." He halfway mumbled, his blush not showing through his sunburn as she laughed.

"Oh, well, I guess that's all I could ask for." She said as the ocean began to lap away at the castle and a sand crab or two was washed away. They stood there in silence for a moment, and Dolly figured it was as good a time as any to tell at least Murderface about her mutilations.

"Murderface, I have to tell you something..." She started slowly.

"If it'sch about how you want to dirty fuck in the schand, I'm all for it." He said, a little drunk.

Dolly laughed and shook her head, "That wasn't exactly what I was getting at... But I think I have to show you, more than I have to tell you." She held out her right arm, "Hold onto my right arm _really_ tightly, and don't let go no matter what."

"As long as you don't exshpect me to fuckin' carry you by your arm..." Murderface muttered, tightly gripping Dolly's right forearm.

With another smile, Dolly jerked her arm to the side, successfully unlocking it, and she took a step back, Murderface still holding her dismembered arm. Murderface, a little drunk from some vodka he'd had beforehand, looked to his own arm and then to the one he held. He opened his mouth and then closed it again, not quite finding the right words...

"AAAAAAAAAHHH!!"

The sudden wail awoke Nathan, who was starting to burn anyway, and the vocalist watched as a dismembered arm flew through the air and into his lap. He picked it up, accustomed to dismembered parts, holding it by one of its fingers.

"Brutal." He murmured, noticing the three metal prongs at the end. Shrill feminine laughter pierced the air as Murderface wacked a suddenly one-armed Dolly upside the head, calling her a moron among other names. Nathan stood, still holding the arm as Pickles watched the arm with a strange "Déjà vu" familiarity, hard liquor in hand. Toki and Skwisgaar, after finally breaking the damn branch, joined the group to surround the dismembered arm.

"This yours?" Nathan held out the arm as Dolly smiled, pleased with the band member's respective reactions.

"You guys aren't... surprised? Disgusted?" She asked, locking her arm back into place and clenching and unclenching her fingers.

"Shoulds we be?" Skwisgaar asked, "I've fucksed women's with fewers limbs den yous..."

"Yeuh, it like, adds character." Pickles agreed, taking a gulp of his drink, "And it's naht unlike you to break out weird shit like dis, anyway..."

"Oh, well then, you won't be surprised at this either..." She un-pinned the lock of hair she had in front of her scarred eye socket and brushed it aside.

This, however, seemed a little less normal to the group of men. Nathan looked halfway between a disgusted scowl and a pleased, feral grin, Skwisgaar and Toki just looked surprised, Murderface couldn't even bring himself to look, and Pickles...

"Dood, yer like a fuckin' broken doll!" He laughed, waving his hand in front of her face, "It looks like someone left you under da bed for too lahng and the family dahg got at'ya!"

Dolly batted his hand away and couldn't help but grin; Pickles always seemed to understand her, "Yeah, I'm actually surprised I'm not missing more parts. Maybe I'll lose them as I grow older; by age 60 I should only be a head and half a torso."

While she and Pickles laughed on it, Nathan whipped out his tape recorder and mumbled something about periodically losing body parts... and maybe some political metaphor. But that was debatable. Chuckling at his awful pun, Nathan looked back at Dolly at the others. Toki attempted to poke the scar tissue that was left in the place of Dolly's left eye, but she whacked him away before he got a chance. Murderface still looked a little creeped out by the fact that she managed to hide her mutilations for so long without even giving off the slightest hint of any of it.

During the rest of their time at the beach, Toki insisted that Dolly teach him to unlock her arm. It took him a little bit, but he finally learned how to unlock it without severely injuring Dolly in the process. And the first time he managed to successfully unlock her arm from its socket, he took off running down the beach with the appendage in hand, laughing as he yelled that "he stole it and he wasn't giving it back".

Dolly shook her head and smiled. She hadn't expected them to take to her 'disabilities' as soon as they did. Making sure her bathing suit was in place, she dashed after Toki, not noticing the drummer and the vocalist a few yards behind her, watching in approval.

"I... I know I've said it before Pickles, and I'll say it again." Nathan began, "I'm so glad she's not fat anymore..."

"Yeuh, agreed." Pickles took a swig of his drink and sighed, "And the ahrm thing... Dood, am I the only one that finds that totally haht?"

"No, I agree." Nathan said, crossing his arms, "It's brutal. She's like a torn up doll, you were correct to say that..."

The conversation bled into silence, and they just watched, drinking their respective drinks as they watched the one armed, one eyed woman barrel across the horizon, chasing after a giggling Toki, waving the arm in the air like a captured flag. Skwisgaar just happened to be near Toki's beeline, and stuck his leg out as Toki passed by. The Norwegian stumbled over and fell flat on his face.

The Swede smiled his suave smile and mouthed something along the lines of "Revenge" as Dolly tackled Toki and stole back her arm, groaning when she saw that he had gotten sand in it.

Murderface had been watching too, and despite his many years of watching and enjoying dismemberment and death, he found it hard to see Dolly in such a state. One of his first memories was the lingering image of his mother, out of the corner of his eye, arm being sawed off by the chainsaw in his father's hand as she screamed, begging for him to just end it.

"_Be a man and end it."_

Murderface's head hurt as he thought back so far, and he quickly downed a beer, the image becoming fuzzy and distorted by each passing gulp.

As the sun began to set, and the Hawaiian women had started to notice Dethklok on their beaches, the band became more and more accustomed to the idea of returning to Mordhaus. Dolly herself was tired and insisted on returning, but Toki didn't want to leave, and Pickles wasn't done with his 14th drink yet, so they had to stay a little longer. So Dolly sat at the shore and watched the sun slowly set, dismembered arm sitting next to her in the sand. Strangely enough, it was Skwisgaar that joined her, sitting at her side opposite the arm.

"You know..." Dolly said, her knees in her chest, "The only way I could describe this place would be... smultronställe."

Skwisgaar smirked slightly, tugging at the guitar on his back, "Ja, jag håller... It woulds be nice if we did nots have to leave. I hears dat de night is when de most beautifuls aspects of dees islands comes out..."

Dolly blinked at Skwisgaar's amazing insight as a breeze rolled past, their locks of hair catching the winds as they blew. God, Dolly thought, who knew that such a beautiful creature could exist?

Skwisgaar's smirk stretched as he noticed Dolly staring blankly, wide eyed at him, "If you takes a photo, it lasts longers. But it also costs extras."

Laughing, Dolly stuck out her tongue, "I don't have to pay for a picture of you if I get to see you every day, Skwisgaar."

"Who says you have ever seen me?"

The question threw her, and Dolly didn't know hot to reply. The Swede's smirk grew and he stood, holding out his hand, an unspoken request lifting her hand to meet his as he pulled her up, Offdensen's authoritative voice gathering all his little chicks back to the Dethcopter. They did not bowl on the way back to Mordhaus, and most of the trip was in silence, aside from the occasional melody from Skwisgaar's fingers hitting the strings on his guitar.

As soon as they got back, Nathan retired to his room with only a mumble, Murderface didn't even give that as he left. Skwisgaar patted Dolly's back, and left for his own room. Toki ran to the game room to fit in a couple rounds of DDR before bed, but Pickles nudged Dolly with his elbow and without a word, jerked his head towards a hallway. The brunette bassist followed the drummer, and soon they reached the kitchen where Jean Pierre was stirring a huge pot of what smelled like chili.

"Ya know..." Pickles said as they reached the doorway, "Dis was where I first saw you. Sitting over der by Jahn Pierre by the lahbster bisque."

"Wow Pickles... I didn't know your memory could still extend back that long ago." Dolly laughed as the redhead playfully smacked her.

"Shut up. I have a great lahng term memory; it's the short term that comes back to bite me in the ahss."

Dolly grinned, "You mean like how you can't seem to remember the name of the ambiguous girl you slept with just a few hours before you fell into a drunken sleep?"

"Okay, first ahff, I never sleep wit' only _one_ girl, and second, who says dey ever tell me deir names?"

As Dolly continued to laugh, Jean Pierre joined them in the dining room and served them what looked and smelled like the most amazing chili either of them had seen. Seeing Dolly sitting next to Pickles, the chef grinned his lopsided, awkward grin, "Ah cherie, I knew you would return."

Dolly nodded, "Of course I returned. I couldn't live without your cooking, Jean Pierre."

"You flatter me, mon cher..." The chef gave a humble bow and scuttled back to his kitchen.

"How do ya do dat?" Pickles asked, taking a bite of the food.

"Do what?" Dolly asked, stirring the chili.

"Yer so... Ya get people ta like you so easily. The only reason people like me is 'cus I'm a fuckin' metal god billionaire."

Dolly smiled, "Well, I spent a lot of my life trying to please the people around me. I perfected the 'Charming Girlfriend' routine along the way as well, so being charming and endearing just comes naturally to me... I guess."

As they ate, the two musicians told each other awful jokes, laughed, messed around with their food in an inappropriate fashion, and then said goodnight and headed off to bed. Dolly hopped onto the bed in her room and pulled out her computer, opening it up and checking to see if anyone was online...

Maggie messaged her instantly:

'_Did Toki say anything about me...? I'm sorry this is the first thing I say to you... Hi!'_

Dolly laughed, and typed back, 'Yeah he did, actually. He asked how you were doing, if you had a boyfriend, the works... I think he's still really into you, dude. You should jump on that train before it leaves the station... Again.'

'_Haha, I will! Thank you so much, my love... How are things?'_

'Really wonderful... I showed them my arm and my eye, and they weren't totally grossed out, so that's a good sign.'

'_Oh that's wonderful!! Now you don't have to hide anything from them and Mr. Offdensen doesn't have to think you... traitorous.'_

'Oh yeah, forgot about that part... No, I lost an eye because of Dethklok, and I still came back. I think that says a lot about how not traitorous I am... Oh god, I hope he doesn't think I'm coming back for revenge or something. I don't want to lose my _other_ eye, too.'

In Sweden, Maggie laughed and tied up her golden curls, typing back, _'Don't let those Klokateers get behind you, Doll! I bet they'll go in for the kill this time.'_

'Oh, don't even joke like that. I'll be fine anyway, the Klokateers around here like me well enough.'

'_Suit yourself... Ah, crap, I gotta go. Orn needs me for something.'_

'Tell them I say hi, woman! I miss my Swedish boys...' Dolly pouted, imagining her old band doing things without her. Especially Elof... she missed him the most.

'_I will, I will! Sleep well Dolly, I'll talk to you later!'_

'Likewise. See ya.' And Maggie signed out. Dolly browsed random websites and then finally closed her computer, laying back onto the variety of plush pillows. She had never imagined, in her entire life, that she would be where she was at that moment. Nothing had prepared her for Dethklok, and she doubted that anything could have. Though rough, rowdy, and more childlike than children themselves, Dethklok gave her a home, and a place to belong. Though she didn't have much to do at the moment, she felt important, and empowered, even around the overt sexism that was thrown around between band members. She knew, deep down, that women and sex owned their minds right next to their respective art.

Dolly turned over and reached into the drawer next time her, not quite sure what she would find...

Her vibrating bullets were placed meticulously on a little purple pillow inside the drawer, and next to them was a note:

'_Bought you a couple extra. Hope you enjoy.'_

She laughed, and thought, _'Offdensen... So creepy, and yet so appropriate.'_

She took three of the six into her hand and ran to lock the door, close the windows and turn off the main light. She grabbed some scented candles from the bathroom, placed them around her bed, lit them, and turned off the lights. Masturbation might've been a spur of the moment changeover from "hand without dick to hand with dick" for men, but it was a ritual for women. It was cherished, and smiled upon, especially in Sweden, as an exploration into one's own form of pleasure.

Dolly sighed and smiled, turning on each of the bullets. _I'm going to have fun tonight..._

A couple days later, the band was to guest star the Nick Ibson show, one of the most famous journalistic shows on the entire planet. Though, they all seemed rather nonplussed by this information as they were carted off to go star on the damn thing, since they would have rather been doing other things. As they left, Dolly spent her time in the game room, playing DDR against herself and lounging around in the hot tub. She mentally thanked the Klokateers that took the time to clean out the rather skanky water the band left behind.

While munching on a candy bar and using Nathan's laptop floaties for her own computer, Dolly watched the Nick Ibson show as Dethklok walked on, clearly irritated. She chuckled and shook her head, taking another bite of the chocolate bar as she played games on Newgrounds. Most of the interview consisted of the band members repelling any attempt at questioning, as well as an untimely and well-aimed piss, on Murderface's part.

Unfortunately, like all journalists, Ibson had an ace in the hole.

"_Tonight... you will all be reunited with... __**your families**_." A side door opened, revealing quite the motley group of people, and Dolly could easily pick out whose family was whose. As the band marked Ibson for death threats, the broadcast cut to commercial. Dolly picked up her computer and finished off her candy bar, throwing on a towel before jogging back to her room. Dethklok would be returning soon, with or without their families, but she wanted to be prepared either way.

As she came out of her room, properly dressed, she met Offdensen on the walk down to where Dethklok was reported to arrive _with_ their families.

"You saw the broadcast?" Offdensen asked her.

"Couldn't have missed it if I wanted to." She replied, picking a nut from her teeth, "Do they hate their families so much?"

"They ah, specifically asked to have their phone numbers changed periodically, so as to avoid their respective families."

"Huh. That's unfortunate." The two of them entered into one of the many den areas, and first saw the band under a variety of ailments. Toki looked nothing less than comatose, Murderface was unable to speak he was so angry, Skwisgaar looked more pale than usual and sick to his stomach, Pickles looked like he was about to go into a violent rage fit, and Nathan's deadly snarl coupled with his tightened and white-knuckled fists would make wild animals cower in fear.

Next to them stood their families, all looking rather irked and disappointed. Dolly bit her lip, glanced back and forth between groups, and quickly put on her best smile as she attended to the parents and Offdensen confronted the band.

"Hi, I'm Dolly, it's so nice to finally meet you all!" Though she felt like a greeter at Wallmart, Dolly continued to smile and clasp her hands in front of her, "I'm a friend of your sons'."

The older blond woman with the sagging breasts half raised an eyebrow at Dolly's rather sunny disposition, and murmured to herself, "Morgonpigg kuf..."

Dolly blinked at the blond and said, "Vad sade du?"

The woman jumped at the Swedish, and smiled faintly after getting over the initial shock, "Nothing, darling girl... I am Serveta, Skwisgaar's momma."

"Glad att träffa dig." Dolly replied, curtsying slightly.

"Oh, well aren't you de cyootest thing!" A red haired woman, no doubt Pickles' mother, exclaimed as she pinched Dolly's cheeks, "I'm Molly, Pickles' mother, this is Calvert his dad, and this is Sethy, his younger brother. Go ahn now Seth say hi!" Molly pulled Seth in front of her. Seth looked almost exactly like Pickles, if you took away the balding and the piercings. He did have the same smile though, and Dolly couldn't help but smile back, "It's nice to meet you Seth."

"Heh, likewise..." The two shook hands before two rather imposing women broke them up.

"You're the kind schoul that helped my darling William with hisch basch playing, aren't you?" The older of the two said, a sparkle in her eye.

"Um, yes I am. He was a great student--" Dolly was cut off.

"You see Stella? I told you this was her!" The other, rather chunky woman said with her hands on her hips, "Now if only she could teach my boy how to speak correctly..."

"It'sch too bad sche's already got her handsch full with William, Rose!" Stella countered, "He'll keep her busy enough."

"I'm sorry Mrs. Murderface... Ma'am, I um, I don't teach your grandson anymore. He and I are great friends, though, and he has actually taught _me _quite a lot about bass." She then looked at the other woman, "And Mrs. Explosion, Nathan speaks very well. He and I have had some rather deep conversations, actually. His viewpoints are extremely profound, even if he doesn't know how to express them to their fullest extent..."

The two women laughed heartily, and Rose said, "Well don't you sound like the caring and concerned teacher. No wonder Charles so readily hired you."

Before Dolly could respond, Nathan declared an ultimatum:

"We're going to Burzums."

Dolly was yanked away from the families by Skwisgaar and Pickles, each grabbing one arm as they walked as quickly as they could towards the door. Nathan, dragging an immobile Toki, quickly followed them along with Murderface, who was flushed red in anger. Offdensen was elected to drive the families to the burger joint, and he did so without complaint.

Even so, there was little to no talking in the Dethklok limo as they made their way to what one might call a restaurant, but most would call a dump. Dolly stuck with Toki in the back of the limo, who hadn't moved an inch since his parents were revealed behind that stage door. Dolly pet his chocolate brown locks and tried to talk to him, sooth him maybe, but he didn't reply to anything she said. From the others, there were moments where they broke things, yelled something unintelligible or in another language, or clenched their fists so tight they drew blood. Dolly really only stuck by Toki because he seemed the least likely to lash out at her, or hurt her. Though, she was completely wrong, but she couldn't have known that.

At the burger joint, each son was pulled away and seated next to their respective relative. However, Pickles' brother, the one that was introduced to her as Seth, pulled Dolly to the side.

"So, how exactly did someone as pretty and respectable as yourself," He seemed to chuckle at this, "Become the teacher to that brainless monkey?"

"You mean Murderface?" Dolly glanced over at the bassist, who scarfed down his fries like one would life's blood, "Oh well... It was a job. And I was poor, at the time. And besides, who would pass up a chance to be around Dethklok, right?"

"Huh, I guess." He grinned that roguish grin that she enjoyed so much, "You ever been to Wisconsin?"

"Can't say I have..." She replied, leaning against the wall behind her, "You live there, right?"

"Unfortunately. Place is a shithole, only reason I'm still there is 'cus I'm under state arrest. I take one step out of Wisconsin state lines without permission, they can kill me on sight."

"Oooh... I see. You're dangerous." Dolly smiled, "So what were you convicted of? Robbery? Murder?"

"You really wanna know?"

"I asked, didn't I?"

Seth chuckled, "Drug dealing. Oh... and I beat up a prostitute or two."

"Oh my. What did they do to make you so angry?" Dolly curled and uncurled her toes; for some reason, she felt like Seth could sense that she had a thing for dangerous people.

"Well the first one damn near bit my dick off for no good reason; broke her jaw for that one. Then the other one... well, she and I just didn't get along very well. Lucky bitch only got away with a couple bruises."

"Mm I see... I'm going to assume that second one didn't like what you wanted her to do."

Seth smirked, "I have exotic tastes."

"As do I..." Dolly murmured, smiling. She was shamelessly flirting, hardcore, and she was well aware of it. But a younger, un-balding version of Pickles was almost too hard to resist. She tended to be attracted to people with anger problems, and listening to Seth recount what he had done to those prostitutes was like a dose of aphrodisiacs...

At the table, while Molly babbled on about Seth, Pickles gave his brother the darkest look one could as Dolly stood submissively to his side and giggled, obviously flirting. He _hated_ his brother as much as someone could hate someone else, and the way Dolly touched his arm as she spoke, pushed Pickles closer to the edge than anyone ever had. Seth, no matter how dapper or charming he was, was a menace and an idiot when it came down to it. Pickles knew that he would hurt Dolly if it meant getting him closer to the riches he always wanted.

"I need to go to the bathroom." The redhead said through grit teeth, and three of the other four readily agreed. On the way there, Pickles grabbed Dolly's wrist and threw her into the men's bathroom. He slammed her, frightened and wide eyed, into the wall, "What the fuck, Dolly?!"

The other three stayed silent as she tripped over her own tongue, trying to answer Pickles as he used his inhaler, attempting to calm himself down.

"I didn't..." She squeaked out, but he cut her off.

"You didn't what, hah?!" He yelled, shoving his inhaler back into his pocket, "Think? You didn't consider that maybe, Seth isn't as great as he looks? I've had to deal with that little shit for my entire _life_, and believe me Dolly, all he's after is your _money_ and your _blood_. And when I saw you rubbin' up against him like a starved cat, gahd, do you have any idea... how afraid I was that he was gonna hurt you? Look at ya, yer already falling apart on yer own..."

And then the dread set into Dolly's stomach. Pickles took another deep drag on his inhaler and mumbled that he hadn't used one of them in 15 years, as the others muttered their own complaints about their parents. No one accosted Pickles about how much he cared about Dolly, since it really wasn't the time get on his case about it. Dolly took Pickles' hand in hers and put her head on his shoulder, "I'm sorry... You're right, I shouldn't have done that... This is a delicate time for all of you, and I should not have used this time to tickle my own fancies... I'm really sorry, Pickles..."

"... He's a whiney bitch, ya know." Pickles said, knocking Dolly lightly over the head, "An' I know how much ya hate that..."

Dolly smiled a little, "Well, thanks for warning me..."

Coming out of the bathroom, Dolly stuck close to Pickles' side and didn't give Seth another look. She bid the families farewell and returned to Mordhaus on her own, getting a text from Pickles that he and the others would try to make their families leave ASAP, and that was fine with her. Though as much as she didn't want to hurt Pickles, Seth intrigued her. She knew that it was wrong, especially since she had known him for little less than two hours at that point, but he was interesting. He was still at the bottom of the food chain, clawing his way up through the ranks. Pickles and the others... their passion was quelled by being placed on pedestals.

At least, that was what she saw; that was what they let her see.

Later that night, she heard screaming of every kind coming from one of the recording rooms. Dolly smiled and shook her head; were they all finally driven crazy in each other's company? Who knew. Dolly wanted to see the families off, maybe catch one more glimpse of Seth while she had the chance, but a gaggle of Klokateers bid her to stay inside her room for the remainder of the night. So instead, she climbed into bed and fell asleep, curious as to what the next day would bring...


	9. Peace and Psychotherapy

Haha, this one was fun :3 Alright, I know these don't come out very often, but I've been writing as much as I can. Especially since it's summer, I'll have lots of time for this one. It's the only fan fiction I'm writing at the moment, and I love it.

Anyway, you should have more of an idea of who I've chosen with this one :D Of course I'm not going to just TELL you, but it shouldn't be that hard to figure out...

Or is it? :P

Anyway, thank you for reviewing as always! I REALLY appreciate them!

**Deth, Come Near Me**

Canto 9: Peace and Psychotherapy

It was a week after the families left, and things had more or less gone back to normal. However, Murderface had started thinking about the idea that he and Dolly should kick-start their lessons again, and Dolly couldn't help but feel like the bassist was feeling lonely. There was a regular entrance and exodus of women for most of the band members, even Toki received some female guests, but Murderface was always without. So, Dolly agreed to spend some time with Murderface, but made it extremely clear that they were friends doing friendly things together and she would not have sex with him under any circumstance.

Although upset by the information, Murderface made the most of the time he spent with Dolly. They took some time to learn a couple new bass lines for some of Dethklok's newer songs, Dolly taught him some of her past band's bass lines (which were significantly more involved than most of those from any Dethklok song), and she actually managed to get Murderface outside for an extended period of time. He brought her to the tennis courts, and boasted his rather unimpressive tennis skills.

Dolly couldn't help but laugh as he missed almost every ball she lobbed at him; she was no pro, but she knew how to handle a racquet well enough.

"Murderface, you have to actually swing _at_ the ball, not _away_ from the ball..." Dolly laughed, catching a tennis ball that Murderface tossed at her.

"Schut up and scherve the fucking ball!" He yelled, confident that _this time_, the racquet would work for him.

Shaking her head, Dolly playfully served the ball at a rather slow and manageable speed...

"... I said _no_ Nathan; you are not allowed to start an LSD factory... I don't care how much money we could rake in—I _know_ it would be extremely metal..." Charles argued with his lead singer over the phone, pinching the bridge of his nose, "Na-Nathan, the lawsuits alone would threaten to deplete all the money we could potentially make. Couldn't you have a different kind of factory? ... Yes, fine, if you can figure out how to make a factory that produces new German words, I will approve. Now I have to go – _Yes_ Nathan... Yes... Goodbye." The manager finally hung up the phone and sighed, rubbing his temples. Dolly got one of them out of his hair, but when Murderface wasn't there to have awful ideas to be shot down by the band, the rest of them were had awful ideas of their own...

Speaking of, Charles turned on his cameras, and caught a glimpse of Dolly and Murderface at the tennis courts, the former serving a rather soft ball and the latter missing it without any reason other than awful tennis skills.

"That wasch a do over!" Murderface pouted as the ball rolled past him, but Dolly didn't seem to hear as she doubled over and laughed until tears welled up in the corner of her eyes. The male bassist continued pouting until Dolly finally fell to the ground and tried to calm herself down. Charles watched, amused; it was rare that someone had so much fun at Mordhaus, with Murderface of all people.

Upset, Murderface stomped off, and Dolly called after him, "Aw Murderface, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to laugh at you..."

Charles had the cameras follow them until they returned to Mordhaus, where Pickles barreled out and told Murderface about the concert they had been booked for that night. Murderface told Pickles to fuck off, whom gladly took the bassist's advice and brought Dolly with him. As Murderface stomped off, Pickles snickered and Dolly giggled, running off to who knew where, and Charles turned off his cameras.

With a light sigh, the manager attempted to return to his work, but the person he had discontinued watching a moment ago kicked the door open. A frazzled Dolly and a smirking Pickles stood at his desk with mischievous looks in their eyes. Charles opened his mouth for a moment and was about to ask them what they wanted, but tired for the first time in ages, shut his mouth and allowed them the floor.

"I want to come to the show tonight!" Dolly said, throwing her arms up, "Pickles just made me realize that I've never actually been to a _real_ show, not including the damn prom, and I really_ really_ have to go to one."

Behind Dolly, Pickles begged with his eyes. The drummer knew that the shows were dangerous and were the cause of thousands, if not millions, of civilian casualties, but he really wanted to show Dolly that he wasn't just some drunkard who beat women up in bathrooms when they flirted with his brother...

And for some strange reason, Charles received the message. Charles laced his fingers together and looked Dolly right in the eye, "If you want to be backstage Miss Codling, there are a few rules I need you to follow. When we get onto the Dethkopter for departure, you and I will have a meeting... Now ah, I have work to do." They didn't need to be told twice, and Dolly and Pickles ran out of the room with huge smiles. With another sigh, the manager returned to his duties...

"I _told_ you he'd be okay with it, dumb ass." Dolly said, punching Pickles in the shoulder.

"Well gahlly gee willikers Dolly, fergive me for being used to never getting what I want." Pickles mocked.

"You never get what you want? Oh please." Dolly laughed, "You get EVERYTHING that you want. The only times that Offdensen says no is when you'd be putting yourself or the band in danger with your request."

"... But those are the tings dat I want the most!" Pickles argued, and Dolly continued to laugh, "Like when I asked to go skydiving – regular jack-offs do dat all the time!"

"... Pickles, you wanted to go skydiving with a bunch of naked women, all without parachutes. That shit isn't kosher dude, you'd get someone killed."

"Well dat was the _point_..." The redhead muttered.

As it drew closer to the time of departure, tensions seemed thick with the band. They all seemed on edge and pickier than normal, and the Klokateers were doing their best to keep up with useless demands. A couple dozen Klokateers were used only to relay messages between band members, who did not want to talk to each other face to face, because in the words of Nathan Explosion:

"We would hate each other too much."

So Dolly too ended up being traded between members. When Pickles was busy with another miniature side project, Dolly snuck off to see Toki, who was trying to finish a model airplane before they had to leave. The rhythm guitarist was happy for the help, but his lack of appreciation skills was evident in the way he childishly ordered Dolly around to tell the Klokateers to get him things. Tired of Toki's misplaced OCD, Dolly then ran off to see Skwisgaar. The blond guitarist welcomed her presence with a nod and scooted over so that she had a place to sit. Dolly leapt onto the bed and spent a couple stress free moments listening to Skwisgaar practice runs. Unfortunately, that ended as soon as a Klokateer brought him the wrong drink, and he started screaming about the difference between caffeinated tea and decaffeinated tea. Holding her ears, Dolly bolted from the room to go check on Murderface. After seeing what could have possibly been blood splashed at the entrance to his room, Dolly finally tiptoed to Nathan's room only 20 minutes before they had to leave to get to the venue.

She knocked on the door, and Nathan's gravelly voice answered, "What?"

"It's me..." Dolly said, "Are you busy?"

"... Uuuuh... _Am _I busy?" Nathan almost seemed to ask himself. "Yeah uh... you can come in."

Dolly opened the door and smiled, "You're not writing new songs just before the show, are you?" She said, stepping over sheets of paper, many of which were scribbled on.

"I don't control when inspiration hits..." The vocalist growled, his trusty tape recorder at his side.

Dolly picked up a couple pieces of paper from the floor. Though most of them were scribbled out rather well, a couple were scribbled out badly enough so that Dolly could see the pictures of crudely drawn naked women underneath. A few of them weren't scribbled out at all, and were crumbled at the vocalist's feet. Those had more detailed pictures, but they weren't of what Dolly would call stirringly intellectual images.

Upon noticing Dolly's skeptical facial expression, Nathan barked, "Hey, you have no idea where any of those drawings came from in my head."

Dolly smiled a little, "Yeah I guess I don't. I'll bet if you ordered these pictures from beginning to end we could find a coherent line of thought, though."

Nathan seemed surprised by the idea, "Yeah... Uuh... Maybe when we get back."

Twenty minutes passed with Nathan mumbling into his tape recorder and Dolly attempting to start her project with Nathan's pictures. A Klokateer came to the door and bowed deeply, saying that the Dethkopter was preparing for departure. Nathan and Dolly walked out and met the others at the loading dock. As they got on, Dolly migrated over to Offdensen, who lead her to a window as they took off.

"I didn't think that being backstage was such a big deal." Dolly chuckled, crossing her arms.

"As you know Miss Codling, a Dethklok concert is ah, one of the most dangerous events in human history." Offdensen replied, looking her straight in the eye.

"... Other than the black plague, sure."

"But people did not by tickets to contract the black plague." Dolly laughed a little at this and Offdensen went on, "Though backstage is ah, a little less chaotic, there are still measures you will want to take to keep yourself safe. Don't drink anything someone else gives you, don't eat anything someone else gives you, watch for anyone that is not in full Klokateer attire and **do not**, under any circumstances, stand underneath a stagelight."

"... Well fuck, what **can** I do?"

"Enjoy the concert."

Dolly smirked, and halfway saluted, "Yes sir."

Offdensen dismissed her and she ran off to go jump onto Murderface's back. The trip was short, and none of the band seemed to be in very high spirits. They dragged themselves off the Dethkopter and once they were backstage, departed to their own dressing rooms. While Offdensen made himself busy getting everything ready, Dolly snuck off to go see the line of people...

"Whoa." The line went on for**ever**, and Dolly saw a sea of little white pain wavers being signed feverishly. Offdensen was right; these people were paying for their deaths. Some guy at the front of the line saw Dolly and cried out, "Hey! Some chick got passed the security!" He tried to tear his way through the guarding Klokateers, and a bunch of people followed after him. Dolly jumped as a rock sailed just past her head, and she stepped back a couple feet.

A Klokateer grabbed hold of her arm, "This way my Lady." He led her backstage, "Apologies my Lady, the fans tend to be jumpy and violent just before a show."

"Are they ever **not** jumpy and violent?" Dolly asked, her heart racing.

"... Good point."

Dolly sighed, "Thank you for getting me out of there... I guess I should just stay backstage."

"I believe that would be the best idea. Master Offdensen does not wish for you to be harmed tonight."

"He..." She blinked and smiled, "Okay, thank you."

Another bow and the Klokateer left Dolly to her own devices. She sat atop a spare speaker in the right wing, watching everything get set up for the show. Her mind wandered back to when she was playing with her brother's bands, and how she was usually the one setting everything up. She didn't dislike it, but she didn't like it either. She missed being up on stage, and thought she would give Elof or Orn a call about maybe coming back for a week or two...

The concert started off on a rather good note, the band playing songs from their albums before Dethwater. They still stuck to the claim that Dethwater was for fish and fish only, and refused to play any of the music live. But they played a few from Medieval Dethchamber and a couple singles, the crowd reacting as expected. However, halfway through a song, something went wrong. On stage, one of them tripped over some wiring, and started a whole chain reaction. Only seconds later, a fight had broken out both on stage and off, and the same Klokateer that had gotten Dolly away from the line of people before the show was now pulling her into a dressing room.

"Please stay here, my Lady." He said, hurrying out at the sound of Offdensen's voice. Dolly flinched at the sound of gunshots, and backed further away from the door as she heard a stampede right outside of it. The sound of breaking glass was the last straw, and Dolly hid behind a couch.

She flinched again when the door slammed open, and she heard a familiar voice, "My Lady, it is time to leave."

She stood up and ran to the Klokateer, who took her arm and quickly ran out. A slew of enraged fans dashed past, waving around torches and various sharpened objects. The Klokateer hid Dolly behind him as they passed, holding his hand over her mouth. When they were gone, the Klokateer gestured to Dolly, and they took off running.

However, a sharp crack was heard and Dolly tumbled to the floor. She sucked in air through her teeth, "Shit, I think my heel broke..." She stood and hopped on one foot for a moment before taking her unbroken shoe and whacking it against a cliff side, breaking the other heel. She smiled, nodded, and they continued on. Dodging bands of people, the two soon made it back to the Dethkopter. Unfortunately for them, it was swarming with fans.

"Damn..." The Klokateer mumbled, glancing around.

"How are we going to get in?" Dolly whispered.

"I don't—"

A flare fired off the top of the Dethkopter, and into the crowd of people. Suddenly a screaming, burning fan base went tearing away from the Dethkopter. The Klokateer grabbed Dolly and quickly pulled her to the Dethkopter. They tumbled, gasping for air, into the main room. Dolly looked up as she breathed, and saw that the band was all there, though they weren't looking at each other. In an instant, Offdensen was in front of Dolly and the Klokateer.

"Are you alright?" He asked, looking at Dolly.

She nodded, "Yeah I'm fine... A little freaked out, but fine."

He nodded, and then looked to the Klokateer, who was up and saluting. Offdensen cleared his throat, "Good job ah, Number 63."

"Thank you Master." He bowed deeply.

Before Offdensen could dismiss him, Dolly jumped in, "Um, Mr. Offdensen, could I maybe keep Number 63 with me for a little? I'm still kind of jumpy, and he's been really helpful..."

Offdensen seemed to mull over the idea, as Number 63 stood stiffly to Dolly's side. He nodded, "For the ride back, and the night, if that makes you feel better."

She grinned and hugged the manager's arm briefly before grabbing Number 63's hand and dragging him to her usual corner in the Dethkopter.

"Um... The master didn't just prostitute me to you, did he?" Number 63 asked, standing awkwardly at attention as Dolly sat down at the couch by the window.

She laughed and shook her head; "I wouldn't ask it from you. I think you're on bodyguard duty for me tonight, if that's okay."

"It does not matter if it's okay with me, my Lady." He answered, "What matters is that you feel safe."

"I'd feel a lot safer if you sat down."

Number 63 obediently sat down and set his hands on his thighs, staring straight ahead.

"Are... Are you okay?" Dolly asked.

"To be in a casual situation with someone at the rank of my Masters is against all rules and regulations..." He answered, voice low and slightly strangled.

She smiled, "Believe me, I am not _at their rank_, whatever that may mean. I'm just a normal person, Number 63... Speaking of which, what's your name?"

"You give up your name once a number is decreed, and all you are thereafter is a number." He answered quickly, as if reciting a quote from memory.

"Oh come on." She teased, "You have a name, it's on your birth certificate..."

"Birth certificates are burned upon being inducted into the Gears." Again with the recitation.

"Well they don't wipe your memory, do they?"

"..."

"... Seriously?"

"No not really." He halfway snickered, but then remembered his place and bowed his head toward her, "I apologize for leading you astray, my Lady."

"No no! That's how I want you to be. Please, what's your name?"

"... Roth."

"Much better. It is nice to officially meet you, Roth. Now all we have to do is get that mask off."

"... Is this some sort of loyalty test that I have to pass? Because mask removal is strictly forbidden..."

Dolly laughed, "Wow, shut up. No, this is not a test! You helped me out, I appreciate it."

Dolly didn't get Roth to loosen up until the end of the ride back to Mordhaus, and she was glad that she had him for the whole night. Not saying anything to the other band members, she and Roth returned to her room. As Dolly ran off with her new Klokateer buddy, Pickles glowered. He looked over at Nathan, who he hated the least at the moment, and grabbed two beers from the beer-wielding Klokateer that usually followed them around.

He handed Nathan one, who took it as a momentary peace offering, and the drummer plopped down beside him.

"You think Dolly wants ta fuck that Klahkateer?" He asked, taking a swig of his beer.

Nathan paused mid-swig, "Uuh... I don't know. Does it matter?"

"Well yeuh! What if she gets like, pregnant? And then she'll be all hungry and pissed ahff all the time like my mom was with Seth... And what if it's a disfigured demon child? She'll probably be upset all the time and get fat again and have sex with more Klahkateers and have more kids... Dood, they'll outnumber us! All our beer money will haf'ta go to her kid's clothes, like what happened to yer dad!" Pickles yelled, convinced. "What then, huh? OR, we could stop all that from happenin' and bust in there and stop 'er!"

"... Let's fucking do it." Downing his beer, Nathan stood up with Pickles and they made a beeline for Dolly's room. As soon as they got there however, they paused and held their ears to the door. From inside, they heard moans, a squeaking bed, and various slapping sounds. Wasting no more time, Nathan kicked the door down and they rushed in.

Dolly stared at them, pressing pause on her computer. Roth stood at attention as soon as he could, stalk stiff as before. Pickles and Nathan looked mildly confused at the lack of nakedness and sex-making.

"... Guys." Dolly said slowly, "... What are you doing?"

"... If you have a hundred demon babies, we're kicking you out." Nathan said.

"Who the hell said I-... Okay, obviously I missed something." Dolly said, standing up, "So I will inform you as to what I'm doing right now." She gestured to Roth, who was still standing at attention, "Number 63 and I are just hanging out, like normal friends do."

"Then what were all those sounds, huh?" Pickles said, crossing his arms.

"I was showing him the worst porno ever." She turned her computer around and showed them the video. On it was the paused image of two rather icky looking midgets ogling an Asian girl tied to a bed, her own panties stuffed into her mouth. Neither Nathan nor Pickles seemed fazed by the image.

"And I don't _want_ kids. Not now, anyway." Dolly added.

"You." Nathan said, looking at Roth, "Leave."

Roth bowed and scurried off. Dolly whined, "What'd you have to do that for?"

"He can't be your friend." Nathan growled. Without another word, and with Pickles behind him, he slammed the door.

And Dolly was left speechless. It seemed that Murderface wasn't the only one that felt like he needed to be domineering over her. She was surprised. Dolly guessed that when Dethklok found a friend, they wouldn't let her go. She closed the window with the awful pornography and opened her music folder...

"Bands terapy, pfft..." Skwisgaar muttered touching his new wound gingerly, "Da fucks is it, anyways?"

"Where dey tries to makes us loves each udder." Toki replied, "Statismically speakings, ninty-eights percents of terapists are gays."

"Dey tryings to make us gay?" Skwisgaar seemed appalled by this.

"Yeuh dood, it happened to a friend of mien in high school." Pickles piped in, "He started going tuh therapy, and he comes back all happy and self-affirmed and shit. Said he didn't need drugs anymore... So I took his stash. Figured he didn't need it."

"Fuck that." Nathan spat, "I don't want to be all self-aff... Self-affu... Gay."

But despite their best efforts, Dethklok was finally rallied into their therapist's new office in Mordhaus, and they were sentenced to at least 6 hours a day of constant observation, intervention and psychological analysis. The first day was kind of awful: Skwisgaar got slapped, each and every band member got a stern emotional debasing, and Dolly actually had to meet the therapist.

"You know, Dolly, you just, you're the sweetest girl..." John Twinkletits started, spinning his pen as he and Dolly had a personal talk, "But your pheromones are getting in the way of this band! If you could do me a real _solid_ and just stay out of the way for, say... A month or so, then I'll give you all the banana stickers you want."

Dolly was less than amused. She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow, "Look, I'm not a moron. I'll stay out of the way, but not for some fucking stickers, alright?"

Twinkletits seemed to understand instantly, "Alrighty then, how does 200 bucks sound?"

"Deal."

"Stupendous!" Twinkletits smiled, "I'll see you in a month or so."

She stood up, "Paid up front would be awesome."

"You'll get half now and half when the deal is done." He said, taking $100 out of his pocket and handing it to Dolly.

She smiled and walked out, murmuring, "Two hundred bucks for new fucking heels..."

The next week was nothing less than agonizing for Dolly. She wasn't sure if Twinkletits had told the band that she wasn't allowed to be around them, but they seemed confused when she left the room every time one of them entered. Number 63 ignored her every attempt at conversation after Nathan yelled at him, and the only person Dolly really had to talk to was Maggie, but she wasn't actually there. Maggie too was barred from talking to Toki, though they had somewhat mended their friendship at the very least.

But after that week, Dolly made a discovery: She wasn't banned from talking to Offdensen. So, the next chance she got (which was the hour after she had the realization), she snuck into Offdensen's office.

The manager, working on some papers, looked up above the top of his glasses to stare at the female bassist, who was smiling and biting her lip.

"Ah... Do you need something, Miss Codling?" He asked, a little slowly.

"Human contact." She responded, walking up to his desk, "I've been dying, Mr. Offdensen. I thought it would be easy to stay away from Dethklok, but I have no one else to talk to..."

"I thought you had ah, that Maggie you're always mentioning." Offdensen said, looking back down at his paperwork.

"Yeah, but not in the flesh." She groaned, going around to the other side of his desk and sitting down on it, "You're my last hope. Please indulge me for like, ten minutes?"

He leaned back a little, looking up at Dolly's pouting face, "Alright, what would you like to talk about?"

She grinned, "I dunno, what are you working on?"

"Damage costs of the last concert." He replied.

"Well that's interesting." She said sarcastically.

"Not much of what I do is very interesting, Miss Codling."

She shrugged, "Well, granted you are the manager of the greatest metal band in history, I should think that not _everything_ you do is quite as boring as damage costs. Like... I'm sure it's interesting to fight the influence of other bands, or other individuals trying to steal Dethklok's spotlight."

"Well ah..." He leaned forward onto his knees, "It was, in the beginning."

Dolly smiled, "Do tell."

"... You're quite good at manipulating the situation, Miss Codling."

"I kind of pride myself on it. Story time, please?"

He sighed, "I guess sorting out damage costs can wait."

Dolly clapped a little in excitement, "Thank you, you have no idea how much this means to me."

And despite the limitation of 10 minutes that Offdensen had agreed to beforehand, the two of them talked for hours. Offdensen's kind of vague talk of his experiences in the beginning of Dethklok led into Dolly talking about her time in her brother's bands, which led back to Offdensen, and so forth. Late into the evening, Pickles finally entered into the room and Dolly had to leave without saying anything.

Dolly awoke the next morning rather late to a phone call from Elof. She quickly answered and, trying not to sound too groggy, said, "Hello?"

"_Dollys... Goods to hear your voice. Its been a whiles."_

She smiled, "Yeah, it really has." She twirled a lock of hair in her fingers, "So what do you need?"

"_Just wonderings how you are... And Orn wanted to ask you for your opinions on some new songs. Maggies has been contributing, and Orn wanted your thoughts."_

"... You guys have Maggie doing what, singing?"

"_Ja... Does dat bother you?"_

"No, no... I was just thinking that I would come back and you know, help out for a couple weeks."

"_... Well, right nows is not a good time, Dolly. We all miss yous, but we's working on some new sounds..."_

She smiled, albeit sadly, "I understand... Sure, send me the songs. I'll tell you what I think."

"_Tank you, Dolly... I'll talk to you laters."_

"Sure, see ya..." And they hung up. Sighing, Dolly stood and checked the time...

10:46 AM.

She stretched, put on some clothes and walked out of her room. She snuck to the kitchen, where she could smell delicious breakfast foods. Unfortunately, Skwisgaar sat at the table, munching on a single piece of toast as he read some guitar magazine. Dolly cursed and walked off, but quick footsteps behind her and then a blond stepping in front of her stopped her in her tracks.

"Yous been ignoring us." He said sternly, putting a hand on his hip, "Why?"

"Your therapist told me to stay away from you all." She answered simply, "Something about pheromones and distraction." She couldn't help but notice that Skwisgaar had brushed his hair, and he had a couple of the alleged banana stickers on his shirt and on his guitar.

"Ja but... Toki, Toki misses yous." Skwisgaar said awkwardly.

Dolly smiled, "I'll come back to you guys in a little while, don't worry. Now go get better." She patted him on the shoulder and walked into the kitchen. Jean Pierre was delighted to see her, and piled Dethklok's leftovers onto her plate, which she graciously scarfed down in the absence of their presence. After a short conversation with the French chef, Dolly left and safely prowled Mordhaus. From 10 until 1 was intervention time, when Twinkletits would essentially try to get Dethklok to admit things about themselves that they didn't want anyone hearing. Which meant that Dolly had free reign for another hour and a half, at least. She ran to the game room and turned on the stereo, blasting what a metalhead such as her would consider a guilty pleasure: popular music. She popped in a CD that Maggie had snuck her before she left for Mordhaus, and the song Marrow by St. Vincent poured out. She sat back and moved easily to the beat...

"You could be called brave for playing such ah, _music_ in a place like this." Offdensen's authoritative voice came from a doorway.

Dolly felt a little more comfortable in his presence after the night before, and she smiled, "I could be called brave for being here at all."

"Very true." He adjusted his glasses, "I figured that your guilty pleasure would just be something a little less brutal."

"Ah, that is where you failed to take into account that I am, in fact, a girl. This kind of stuff is a little more on the estrogen side and a little less on the break-my-face-against-a-cliffside... side." She shrugged, "I dunno, it kinda feels like I haven't been able to be a girl as of late... I got kind of used to being the girl with Kenneth..." She grimaced, "But now I see that that was _all_ he wanted to be."

Offdensen didn't respond, and Dolly felt an awkward moment bubbling up, so she laughed, "Sorry, I didn't mean to do that..."

"No, I'm just not ah... used to comforting people."

She shook her head, "I'm not used to being comforted."

"Why is that?" Offdensen replied, gladly inviting another conversation. He had almost forgotten how to have a casual conversation, and Dolly was so good at drawing questions out of a person. He just had to indulge himself...

"Oh, well, that's quite a story." She laughed a little, "When I was younger, my brothers—"

"Ahffdenseeeen~!" They heard Pickles yell, the sound of feet slapping against the stone floor serenading them from the main hallway. It seemed the band's session had been shorter than usual.

Dolly cringed, "Sorry again..." She hit stop, took her CD and dashed out a corridor. Offdensen stared after her for a moment before Dethklok crashed in and told him that they needed new clothes. Apparently Twinkletits was making them wear a more positive array of clothing, and though they weren't so fond of the idea, his '_Mind tricks and hypnoperthy' _were compelling them to buy them. So, once again, Offdensen was put to work.

Another week passed, and Twinkletits entered into strange territory. He would start following the band to recording sessions, choosing what TV shows they watched, and calling unnecessary band meetings in the middle of dinner. Though Dolly was slowly getting the hang of sneaking around Dethklok, and she wanted them to feel better about themselves and their relationship with each other, she was starting to get a really creepy feeling from the therapist. However, this was bypassed by the bi-nightly, if not nightly, visits with Offdensen. Dolly took it upon herself to sneak into his office whenever she could, and entreat him with a drink or a midnight snack while he was working. Sometimes he could talk, and they would exchange information on the economy, the quality of guitar strings, what dog was the best kind of watchdog, and so on. But most of the time, he would be too busy to talk, so Dolly would light a fire in his fireplace and catch up on all the books she forgot to read in high school.

The first night this happened was when Dolly plucked Dante's _Inferno_ from his bookshelf after he said that he couldn't talk that night. She asked him if she could stay, and he said that he didn't mind. So it became routine for Dolly to stop in with a couple glasses of brandy, a box of matches and a book just in case. Though she never had the good fortune of seeing any of the rare moments when he smiled, she knew that he was at least a little appreciative for her company. Once or twice she had fallen asleep in front of the fireplace, but she woke up in her bed, so he had to have cared enough to take her back, or have someone take her back.

At the end of the month of her separation from Dethklok, Dolly once again returned to Offdensen's office with two glasses of brandy and the book _100 Years of Solitude_. He looked up and was about to say something, but she shook her head, "I know, you're really busy this week." She set down the glass and smiled, "Don't work until morning this time, okay?"

"I'll try." He replied, nodding his thanks and taking a gulp of brandy. The fire was already lit, and Dolly curled up next to it. There was an unnaturally serene mood about the place, and Dolly couldn't help but feel at peace. The fire reflected and glowed around the rims of Offdensen's glasses as he read things more quickly than Dolly ever thought possible, and typed at steadily at 170 words a minute, 200 when he was rushed. It was moments like those that kept her happy: the crackling of the fire, the cracking of his fingers on the keyboard and the slight buzz Dolly got whenever the brandy was in her system.

"You know Mr. Offdensen..." Dolly said, picking at the carpet, "I really like you."

"I really like you too." He responded without looking up, "And please don't pick at the carpet, Miss Codling."

"_Still _with the 'Miss Codling' shit? Really?" She said, feeling a little bold with the alcohol in her. "Come on, I thought we were past that stage. I'm not exactly a guest anymore, and everyone else calls me Dolly... Well, everyone in Dethklok."

"I'm ah, not in Dethklok."

"Yeah yeah, I know!" She sighed, "Look, please, just call me Dolly. I don't want to be 'Miss Codling' anymore, I want to leave that persona behind me..."

"And what persona would that be?" Offdensen said, looking up above his glasses.

"The little girl my mother so badly wanted to be in the catering business." Dolly said, unamused.

"... I see. I will ah, try to make the adjustment, Dolly." He returned to his work, and she smirked at a job well done.

The following night, as Dolly wandered Mordhaus, wondering when she should make her nightly stop into Offdensen's office, Skwisgaar confronted her yet again. This time however, his hair hung down in its typical fashion, he wore his usual outfit and there was not a trace of a banana sticker on him.

She glanced up at him, "And this means...?"

"Twinkletits is gones." He replied, pronouncing his last name the way it was written instead of the way the therapist wanted it to be pronounced.

Dolly laughed, "You fired him?"

"He was eaten by de wolveses."

"... Oh how unfortunate." She shrugged and lightly punched Skwisgaar's shoulder, "Thank god! I fucking missed you guys..." But then she realized something, "Shit, he never gave me that other hundred bucks."

Skwisgaar yanked something from his pocket and handed it to Dolly, "Wills fives hundred do?"

"... Yeah sure." She said, a little surprised, "You sure you want to give it to me?"

"Pfft, I haves hundred dollar bills to wipes my ass wit." He scoffed.

"... Not a pleasant image, Skwisgaar."

"You loves it."


	10. The Do's and Don'ts of Charles Offdensen

Hey now, what's this? i think I've actually had a chapter written for a couple monthes now, I've just been so busy with college that I haven't checked until now...

Well, here it is! Hope you guys still read this; my favorite character is just getting more and more awesome by the day~

**Deth, Come Near Me**

**Canto 10: The Do's and Don'ts of Charles Offdensen**

Nathan woke up around noon, groggily yawning and kicking the sheets from his bed, only to find three naked women curling up underneath them, still asleep. Nathan lazily put on some clothing, told the Klokateer at his door to get rid of them as soon as possible, and then walked off to get something to eat. Behind him, the Klokateer kicked the three women from the bed and corralled them like frightened horses out the door, gripping their clothes to their chests.

In the hallway, a hung-over Pickles and a well-rested Toki joined Nathan as they walked towards the kitchen. Pickles and Nathan grumbled greetings to each other while Toki added in a perky "Hallos!", a grin on his face. Pickles flinched at Toki's high-pitched voice, and began to rub his temples. The show the night before had been a last minute addition to a UN address of political issues, and the President of the United States had once again asked for Dethklok to perform with another blank check in hand. So, grudgingly, Dethklok traveled to New York and played for less than five minutes, rather unenthusiastically. Dolly and Offdensen hadn't accompanied them this time around, the former fearing the fans and the latter certain that the UN would take care of Dethklok while he wasn't around. Unfortunately, a caravan of Dethklok fans had followed the Dethkopter across the ocean, most of them dying, but those that did live (mostly rather good looking women), had ended up sleeping with Dethklok and then left to join the caravans outside of Mordhaus.

In the kitchen, Skwisgaar had his head on the table, arm out with his palm up. Across the table, Dolly hand his hand in hers, and she was gently massaging it out as she talked to him and Murderface. Nearby, Murderface didn't drink his cup of coffee, eyes half closed as he listened to Dolly talk.

"... No Murderface," Dolly said, attempting another explanation, "I was born in July so that I means that I _am_ a Cancer, not that I _have_ Cancer."

"Well you can have all the Cansher you want, but I want that badassch schcorpian thing." He replied, pointing to the Scorpio horoscope in the daily newspaper.

Dolly sighed as she dug her fingers deeper into Skwisgaar's palm, drawing a deep groan from the Swed's throat, and Dolly quickly stopped.

"Sorry, did I hurt you?" She asked.

Not looking up, Skwisgaar replied vacantly, "If you stops agains, I ams... to... **I will kills you.**"

Dolly laughed, and once again took the blond's hand as she looked back at Murderface, "Murderface, you don't choose which one you have. You're born in a certain month, and that's the sign that you're stuck with."

"I wants to bes de fishy!" Toki said as he ran in, pointing to the Pisces.

"I call the lion!" Nathan practically roared as he walked in.

"Horse mans is mine..." Skwisgaar mumbled, having already seen the Sagittarius.

"I get the bull, den..." Pickles said, yanking Murderface's untouched coffee away from him and guzzling it, though the bassist didn't seem to mind.

Dolly sighed and decided to humor them, looking at the actual horoscopes and reading them out loud.

"Let's see... Well, my horoscope for the day is: _Put down your guns and let that domestic side shine through. There are children and animals in need of your care. Honor your lunar nature and get in touch with your sensitivity._" She couldn't help but laugh out loud at that, and continued on.

"Murderface, yours is: _Your dreams are clearer than usual - if you can remember them, that is. If not, don't panic, because the odds are quite good that you've just fully absorbed the message in the right way._" She looked at him, "Do you remember your dream last night?"

Murderface grimaced and looked away, "No!" However, the night before, he dreamt that his grandmother had kicked him in the shin and called him an asshole before falling off the edge of the world. Though that was only a small portion of the dream, it was the part he could remember clearly.

Dolly went back to the newspaper, "Toki, yours is_: It's a really good day for you to take care of personal business - your great emotional energy can help you tackle almost anything from laundry to intensive therapy. Pick your own path!"_

Toki beamed and ran off, most likely to go finish some kind of unfinished business.

"Nathan," Dolly said, looking at the vocalist, "Yours is: _Errors made in haste, speaking too forcefully, sharp words spoken on impulse, or accidents occurring due to restlessness and impatience are all possible at this time."_

He raised an eyebrow, "You sure that isn't Murderface?"

Dolly shrugged, "Not up to me." She looked back at the page. "And for you, Skwisgaar-" The guitarist groaned "-:_ Today might be a somewhat difficult day for you. Instinctively, you'll want to escape the situation and explore your freedom, but something will be holding you back."_

Skwisgaar groaned again, and Dolly sighed, looking at the horoscopes for the last time, "Pickles, yours is: _Your path is lonely today, Taurus. Take some time for yourself and look inward; perhaps you will find something about yourself that you did not know."_

Pickles refilled the cup of coffee and without another word, returned to his room. Dolly opened her mouth, about to say something, but shut it and shook her head, not wanting to know. Skwisgaar removed one hand from her grasp and replaced it with the other. Dolly smiled and started kneading the flesh on his hands. Skwisgaar's poor hands were completely calloused, torn up from decades of continuous playing. His muscles were hard as stone, and it looked like he held all his tension in his fingers. She could only imagine that this was the first time anyone had spent any time working on his hands.

Nathan sat next to Dolly and had Jean Pierre pour him a cup of coffee, groaning with brutal delight just before he put the cup to his lips and drank deeply. Murderface had the chef replace his stolen coffee, and copied Nathan. None of them seemed very keen on speaking that morning, and other than the occasional moan from Skwisgaar, the morning came and went with an uncharacteristically peaceful and calming character. As 2 in the afternoon rolled around, the four who were still sitting at the breakfast table, multiple cups of coffee having passed their lips, started wondering where their other band mates were. Pickles hadn't even come out for a drink or a smoke, and Toki hadn't cared to come out for what would soon be lunch.

"Where do you think those two are?" Dolly asked, after Nathan brought them up.

Skwisgaar shrugged, clenching and unclenching his hands, "Whos cares... As long as dey are gone, we donts haves to work on de album..." A tiny smile crept onto his lips, "And I am fine with dat."

Nathan and Murderface agreed, though what Toki and Pickles were doing probably should have been of more concern to them.

...

Without talking to Offdensen, Toki had gone ahead and bought a suicide hotline with the allowance he had saved up over a couple weeks. He had the Klokateers set up a dozen or so phones in one of the spare meeting rooms, with himself at the head of the room with the solid gold telephone he had given himself a little while before. The suicide hotline he had bought had been called simply "Suicide Helpline", but Toki had expanded it to: "Calls Toki in Case Yous Going to Kills Yourself Hotlines". Toki stole a couple Klokateers from their posts to help with the hotline and soon, business was banging.

Toki's telephone rang, and he hesitantly picked up, "Hallos, dis is Toki speakings, are yous going to kills yourself?"

A woman on the other end of the phone let out a sob, "Yes..." She sounded exhausted, "Oh god, my life has just become such a waste... I don't have the strength to do anything around the house after I broke my leg in a car accident, my husband hates me because I lost my job and now he has to support me and our three children, my kids hate me because they think I haven't prepared them for the world, all my friends were at work and now I don't see them anymore... I don't know why I should live!"

"What ams your name, lady?" Toki asked.

"... Gertrude." The woman answered.

"Gertrudes, just because your lifes sucks doesn't means you shoulds kills yourselfs..." Toki said with a smile.

Gertrude sniffled, "Really?"

"You should kills yourself because yous name is ugly!" Toki said.

Toki hung up, and he felt good. If someone wanted to commit suicide, he would be there with a good reason and good advice on how to do it. Meanwhile, the Klokateers around him were offering up their own reasons to civilians for death, most of the time it being either "You are not a member of Dethklok" or "You will never be as godly as Dethklok", and that usually made the people off themselves.

However, there was one Klokateer that did not follow Toki's backwards protocol. Klokateer 346 had been a police negotiator when he was still working in normal life, and he knew that he was the only one crafty enough to help people survive without making it sound like it.

...

Meanwhile, Pickles sat cross-legged on his bed, eyes closed, just after hot boxing his entire room. Pickles breathed in and breathed out smoke, slowly becoming more and more high. He breathed slowly, the hypoventilation helping him to not get paranoid and freak out. However, it was very good weed, and there was very little chance of getting him paranoid. His hangover was gone, and he started to feel time slow down as he entered into his comfort zone. He would soon open up a window, just slightly, so that the smoke would slowly dissipate, but he had no time to think about that as the hallucinations started up.

...

There was something wrong with financing, and Charles was metaphorically tearing his hair out trying to find out what it was. He had run the numbers over and over again, and even though there didn't seem to be anything wrong, the numbers always came out _wrong_. He calmly took out a cigar and lit it; it wasn't the smoking of the cigar that calmed him down, it was lighting it. It gave him a deadline; he had to figure out the problem before the cigar went out. Charles worked well under pressure; it was when the deadline was extended indefinitely that his heart rate began to rise.

Again, he ran the numbers, this time checking everything by hand just afterwards, and still, nothing was right. He took the papers and carefully looked them over for possible errors. After all, even the few Dethklok accountants that made it to the top of the branch could make mistakes, though they were few and far between. Charles made a mental note (those, he never failed to remember) to have the accountants' files checked over for miscalculations and mistakes.

...

Dolly, Nathan, Skwisgaar and Murderface soon departed to the game room, where Dolly apathetically challenged Nathan to a game of Mortal Kombat, which the behemoth apathetically agreed to. The day seemed to pass by slowly, especially without the three people who usually had the best ideas on what to do for the day. Offdensen, who badgered them into the deep recesses of their minds where they found rather interesting ideas on what to do, Pickles, who was essentially a genius on the workings of a good day, and Toki, who would spit out ideas until he (or someone else) came up with a good one.

Without those three, Skwisgaar laid out on one of the couches, fingers tapping aimlessly away on his Gisbon Explorer; Murderface flopped over the computer, checking up on possible Planet Piss merchandising; and Nathan and Dolly hammered away on Mortal Kombat, both button mashing out of boredom.

"Piece of shit Stryker..." Dolly mumbled, losing to Nathan, "Hope you fucking contract cancer and die in a car accident..."

Nathan chuckled at this, and bumped her to choose another player and fight him again. Dolly quickly chose some ninja named Ermac and pressed start, daring Nathan to try to beat her and her button mashing skills again.

...

Number 346 mumbled something into the telephone, and the man on the other end thanked him endlessly, saying that he was never going to contemplate suicide again. 346 told him he was welcome and hung up the phone. Another Klokateer walked around the room, tallying how many people had killed themselves with the help of each Klokateer.

He came up to 346 and held up his clipboard, "How many?"

"Eleven of the twelve I've spoken to today." 346 responded, "One was a prank call."

The Klokateer took down his number, and moved on. Unfortunately for 346, this Klokateer was also checking the status of each person who called, and knew that 346 was lying; almost all of his callers were now determined to live, and that was against the wishes of Toki. When this Klokateer told Toki, the Norwegian asked him to tell Offdensen that 346 was shirking his duties, and then return to taking calls.

...

The Klokateer sent by Toki to Offdensen's office arrived there with quickness, notes in hand as he knocked on the manager's door.

"Come in." Offdensen muttered, sifting through some old examples of what was happening, trying to see if he could figure it out.

The Klokateer quickly saluted the manager, "Master Wartooth wishes to inform you that Klokateer 346 has been inefficient at following orders, and wishes to have him fired."

Offdensen paused, "346... Isn't he in accounting?"

The Klokateer looked at his notes, "He is, my Lord."

The manager stopped shuffling his papers and looked up at the Klokateer, "And he's been with Toki? Who took care of his paperwork?"

"I believe... It was 216, my Lord."

"That makes sense..." Offdensen rubbed his temples, calming down. "Tell 346 to fix what 216 did on the accounts today, and then bring 346 to my office."

The Klokateer saluted the manager once again and then left. Offdensen looked at the cigar on his desk; it was only half burnt. The manager picked up what was left of it and took a deep, congratulatory drag on it. The smoke left his lips in precise ringlets, disappearing into the air as they ascended. Toki had taken one of the most vital members of the Klokateer base, but he couldn't have known that. Offdensen doubted that he, nor any of the other band members, knew that they even had accountants. However, Toki did deliver the Klokateer's number to him with negative feedback, so Offdensen that he would take care of the Klokateer personally.

...

Dolly groaned as Nathan beat her a fourth time. She threw the controller down, "Fuck this. I'm going to go bug Offdensen."

Nathan grumbled as he too set down his controller and whipped out his recorder, falling back to lie down on the couch.

Dolly yawned, stretching as she walked down the hallway. When Dolly was bored, Murderface would usually jump right in with something for them to do, but even he was tapped out in terms of activities. Dolly continued walking, saying hi to a couple Klokateers walking by her. One of them had a clipboard in hand, and he seemed to be walking away from Offdensen's office. Dolly shrugged; she didn't care much. She soon reached Offdensen's door, and opened it just as the manager socked a Klokateer in the face with his bare fist, and the Klokateer crashed to the floor, seemingly out cold.

Dolly paused, "Uh... Sorry, I didn't know I was interrupting something..."

Offdensen looked at her, and then back down at the Klokateer and said without skipping a beat as he shook his hand out, "I tried to tell him that I was ah, firing him for being lazy, but he lunged at me before I could say anything..."

"... Remind me to not do what he just did." Dolly murmured, walking up to the Klokateer on the floor and nudging him with her foot. "God, he's out cold! What did you do?"

Offdensen shook out his hand, blood splattered on his knuckles, "I just ah... used self defense. Once he's awake I'll have him escorted from Mordhaus. Not a big deal." He glanced at Dolly, "Did you need something Dolly?"

The woman shook her head, "I'm just really bored, and I wanted to know... If you needed any help! With anything... Because you're so busy all the time." Dolly wasn't very good at pulling off the "Helpful Employee" act, but she was trying.

Offdensen cocked an eyebrow, "Are you sure about that?"

"Mm-hm! Oh yeah, I'm sure." She nodded, "If you need _anything_, just tell me."

"... Go check on Toki, if you would."

She shrugged, "Okay, sure." She was about to leave the room, but paused for a moment and looked back into the room, "What kind of cigars do you smoke?"

"... Cohibas."

"How much were they?"

"About 18,000... Euros."

Dolly laughed, "So that's where my college fund went..." She shook her head; "It's a story for another day. Anyway, I'll go check on Toki." She closed the door and walked further down the hallway, all the way to Toki's room... But he wasn't there. The same Klokateer holding the clipboard walked past her and she quickly stopped him.

"You wouldn't happen to know where Toki is, would you?" She asked.

The Klokateer bowed slightly, "He is in the meeting room just down the hall, my lady. I'm going there now, if you wish to follow me."

Dolly nodded and followed the Klokateer down the hallway towards the spare meeting room. Inside, Dolly could hear the ringing of phones and the occasional slam of one onto a receiver. The Klokateer opened the door and ducked as a golden telephone smashed above his head.

"Screw dis!" Toki yelled as his golden telephone toppled to the floor, "I's sick of listening to all des peoples stupid problems!"

"Toki..." Dolly said, "What have you been doing all day?"

"I try to help, but dey keep going, and by de end all they can do is hang up. What I have now? Some stupid screwed up persons hungs up on me!" Toki spat, sitting back down in his chair.

Dolly sat down next to him, "Toki, _what have you been doing all day?"_

"I starteds my own Suicide Hotline, but I didn'ts thinks they would all be such dildo whiners! I quits!" He huffed. "I helps enough people kill demselves..."

Dolly did a double take, "Toki, you don't... You're not supposed to..."

"Whats?" Toki looked at her, a confused look on his face.

Dolly looked at him and wondered, should she tell him that suicide hotlines are NOT meant to help people commit suicide? Knowing Toki, he would never forgive himself. Though what he had done was bad, he seemed to be done with it. And usually when a member of Dethklok was done with something, they never picked it up again. So Dolly shook her head and smiled.

"You're not supposed to throw things, Toki." She said. "It's not a good habit."

"Whats I care?" The guitarist mumbled. Dolly wrapped her arm around him and laughed, leading him out the door as he pouted about his failed short-term aspirations.

...

Offdensen lit another cigar and took a deep drag on it, looking down at the Klokateer. He was glad Dolly didn't try to feel his pulse, because as soon as his fist met the man's face, he felt his neck break, and the man was dead before he hit the floor. He looked out the window, vision blurred by the smoke he allowed to leak from his lips. It wasn't the first Klokateer he had killed, not by a long shot, but they were getting more fragile as time went on. The first Klokateers were, unknown to Dethklok of course, a rag-tag group of haphazardly hired guns and various underground criminals. There were a couple left in the present force, but most of them had either died in the line of duty or were killed in accidents such as the one Offdensen had just played a part in.

However, back then they could take at least a couple shots; thick-necked brutes that were accustomed to daily beatings and the occasional near death experience. They had plenty of flesh to rend, and none of the emotional baggage to weigh them down. Present day wanna-be-Klokateers were fan boys and girls that took karate classes long enough so that they could beat up the class bully, and because of that they believed that they could become a Klokateer. Most of those type barely made it though round one.

A sudden knock on the door brought Offdensen from his thoughts. With a single hand he picked up the Klokateer's body and nonchalantly dropped it out the window, waiting for the_ thud_ before opening the door. Dolly stood there, looking worried. With a gesture, Offdensen welcomed her into his office once again.

"Toki bought a suicide hotline..." She said quietly.

"He ah, does enjoy helping people..." The manager answered easily. "Is there a problem?"

"... He thought that _Suicide Helpline_sare supposed to help people commit suicide. I told the Klokateers assisting him to clean everything up and then come talk to you with the numbers."

Though unsurprised, Offdensen removed his glasses and pinched bridge of his nose, sighing, "This is exactly the reason why they can't be bored..."

"... I think it's partially my fault..." Dolly said, even quieter than before.

"How so?"

"I read him his horoscope this morning... Well, the one he wanted, at least. It said something about tackling intensive therapy, and I think he thought that he could try to be a therapist of sorts..."

Offdensen stayed quiet and took another drag on his cigar.

"And Pickles... He's been shut up in his room all day because of his chosen horoscope. I never thought that they would take them this _seriously_..."

"You don't know them as well as you think you do." Offdensen said finally, "I'll take care of everything."

"What should I do...?"

He tossed her a roll of cash, "Go shopping."

"... So, stay out of the way."

"Yes."

Dolly sighed, "Okay... I'm really sorry."

Offdensen didn't reply and instead pressed a button on his intercom and started rapidly mumbling orders into it. Dolly backed out of the office, and upon returning to her room found a couple Klokateers in front of it, striking a salute as soon as she arrived.

"We have been ordered to take you shopping, my lady." One of them said.

Dolly sighed, "Alright, give me a second..." Within a second, she was in and out of her room; purse in hand as she lead the Klokateers out.

"I'm going to assume that Offdensen has chosen somewhere for me to shop." Dolly said as she stepped into the Dethcopter.

"That is correct, my lady." A Klokateer answered, and Dolly perked at a familiar voice.

"R-... Number 63?" She said carefully with other Klokateers in the helicopter.

"Yes, my lady." He answered again.

"I'm glad you're here..." Dolly said with a smile. He didn't reply, and she sat back for the ride, quiet as it was. They soon arrived at a city, cleaner than any city she'd seen before, and not exactly thriving. The city was scantly inhabited, but entourages a queen ant would be envious of followed everyone who walked down the streets. The Klokateers lead Dolly to one of the larger buildings, one that had no means of telling what it was. As Dolly looked around, she noticed that _none_ of the buildings had any sort of logo or name on them.

"Where are we?" She asked hesitantly as they walked inside.

"We're not at liberty to tell you, my lady." Another of the Klokateers said.

The inside of the building was magnificent. Upper class designer labels littered the walls, the elaborately placed and tailored golden racks merely lending the clothing a further glow. All the clothes were beautifully displayed and gorgeous to boot, divine by nature. Dolly's mouth hung open as she stared in awe, her eyes as big as hubcaps.

"My lady, Master Offdensen asked us to assist you in picking out a dress for the ball this coming weekend." Roth said, snapping his fingers in front of Dolly's face.

"... What ball?" Dolly asked.

"The annual Dethklok Convention of Appreciation Elite Class Convention." Roth answered. "Master Offdensen didn't tell you?"

Dolly shook her head, "I had no idea..." She grinned, "I guess I should find a dress then, huh?" Throwing her inhibitions to the wind, Dolly scampered into the menagerie of dresses, as the Klokateers stood vigilant at the edges of the room. The door opened and a man in a suit walked through the doors, a gaggle of bodyguards at his back. Upon seeing the line of Klokateers, he smiled reservedly and approached Roth.

"Offdensen out for his annual shopping trip?" He asked, scanning the clothing.

Roth snapped around and bowed deeply, "No Mr. Flannigan, we have been sent here as protection for his..." Unable to find a synonymous word, said, "For his ward."

Brett Flannigan raised an eyebrow, "I wasn't aware that Offdensen had an interest in children."

"She isn't exactly a child, Mr. Flannigan..." Roth said. Dolly then walked through the racks of clothing, pulling her hair out of a ponytail as she smoothed out the tight fitting dark blue dress she chose for herself.

She scowled a little, "I don't think this is quite my color... Do I look okay?" She glanced up and looked at Roth (who was without words), and Brett, who was mildly surprised and amused. She blinked, and looked at Roth, "Who's this?"

The Klokateer, unaware of how to respond to such a disrespectful comment, simply looked to Brett and allowed him to respond. Brett shook his head with that same reserved smile and said, "Brett Flannigan, pleased you meet you, miss."

Dolly blinked, "Um, nice to meet you too Mr. Flannigan... Now, tell me, where have I heard your name before? It rings a really nasty bell, but I just can't seem to recall..."

"Well, let's see... Have you ever seen _Proudest Moments_?"

"The fucking best movie of the year 2000?" Dolly laughed, and then caught herself in the middle of the laugh to step back and point her finger into Brett's face, "Holy shit you _produced_ that movie! And like, 12 thousand others!"

Brett chuckled, "Indeed I did. And your own Charles Offdensen coerced me into investing in Dethklok in the very beginning, and I've been nothing but grateful. He's a very good colleague of mine, and a fantastic partner in business."

Dolly smiled, "Yeah, he's a great kid. I like him a lot. He actually sent me on this little excursion to find a dress for the Dethklok Convention... thing."

"The Dethklok Convention of Appreciation Elite Class Convention?" Brett responded with excellent diction.

"... Yeah that one." Dolly said lamely, "But I have little to no fashion sense, so I don't know why Mr. Offdensen decided that this was a good idea."

Brett held out his arm, "Well then perhaps I may be of service to you... I'm sorry, I don't even know your name yet."

Dolly smirked coyly as she took his arm, "No, you don't." With another chuckle, Brett gestured to the dresses and Dolly allowed him to show her a couple.

As Brett showed Dolly a couple dresses that complimented her figure, Roth's phone rang and he quickly answered it, "Yes my lord?"

"_How is Dolly doing?"_

Roth glanced over at her, coming out of the lavish dressing room in a short black dress in a sensually dramatic motion, the light sound of clapping emanating from the partially hidden figure of Brett Flannigan. The Klokateer answered, "Mr. Flannigan arrived and is assisting my lady in her shopping needs."

An uncharacteristic silence overcame the phone call for just a moment before Offdensen answered, "I see. Have her return in no less than 2 hours. And tell Brett that I appreciate the ah... _assistance_." A certain acidity that Roth knew well enough saturated the last word. Roth snapped a verbal salute and Offdensen hung up. He sent one of the Klokateers over to tell Dolly of her time limitations, and he saw as she pouted, already in another dress.

For the next hour and a half, Roth watched from afar as Dolly tried on every kind of dress for the producer. On occasion, he would take her hand and spin her around, catching her expertly after the second or third spin, like a scene in a movie. Roth scowled; Dolly was star struck by the man. And who could blame her? He was charming, had the fashion sense of a gay man and spoke like Shakespeare wrote. Only animals would have a chance at escaping his allure, and even that was debatable.

A couple dresses, some shoes and various accessories in hand, Dolly walked back to Roth with a huge grin on her face. Brett walked behind her, hands placed casually and elegantly in his pants pockets.

"I will see you at the convention, miss." Brett said, taking Dolly's hand and smiling.

She returned the smile, "And I you, Mr. Flannigan."

Roth led Dolly out of the building, albeit hastily, and back onto the Dethcopter. Dolly hung her dresses up in the spare room on the Dethcopter and floated out to meet the other Klokateers, sighing wistfully.

"He has to be married." She said, still with a smile on her face, "No man like that is single; it's impossible."

Roth stayed silent; he knew that Brett was indeed single, only because he was like Skwisgaar: horny and famous. Knowing him, he would court Dolly long enough to tickle his fancy, have sex with her, and then carefully break it off. However, Dolly being connected as she was, Roth wasn't sure how the producer would treat his relationship with her.

As soon as they reached Mordhaus, the Klokateers brought her things to her room as she meandered into the game room, where all the boys were in the hot tub, same as usual.

Pickles spat out his drink and gestured Dolly over, "Dood! Dolly! I had the craziest fuckin' dream while I was havin' my alone time. Cum'ere, I gotta tell you aboot it."

Dollysat down at the edge of the tub, took her shoes off, and dipped her feet into the water, "So, tell."

"So I was hangin' with Tony and the rest of Snakes n' Barrels, right..."

...

Roth entered Offdensen's office and bowed deeply, "Master, about Mr. Flannigan—"

"He is of no concern, Number 63." Offdensen answered. "Dolly is an adult, if she is presented with the opportunity to have sex with Brett and she takes it, it will be her choice. He never forces anything, makes it clear that his intentions are carnal, and always tries to stay friends with his flings. She will have no excuse for being upset afterwards."

"... Apologies, master. I guess I just don't like him."

Offdensen's eyes snapped to Roth, who stiffened at his gaze, and the manager said, "Whether you like him or not doesn't matter, Number 63. I know that Dolly has been giving you some room to be your own person, but that does not mean that you're allowed to have opinions outside of her company. You know that."

"Again, apologies, master. It will never happen again." With another deep bow, Roth left the room.

Offdensen leaned back in his chair, no brandy in hand and no cigar in the ashtray. He sighed; he'd only had two girlfriends in his life, but they were business choices, and extremely well chosen among plenty of possible significant others. His first was in college; she was the daughter of a CEO of an oil company, and she had every kind of connection possible. After making those connections himself, Offdensen broke it off with her.

His next relationship was shorter, little more than two years, but they became wealthy by their own merits and set each other up for good things.

Both women were stable mentally and financially, they were goods lovers, and they were as driven and work oriented as he was. He assumed that he had some sort of loving feelings for them; he assumed that in a loving relationship, both parties were calm and controlled, even in times of change and disorder.

However, this was not the case for Charles Offdensen around Dolly. She was loud, unruly, unstable, treasured fun more than work, hadn't finished college, had an unsteady home life, and lived with hundreds of other men. And still, when he was around her, there was something animal in him that made him want her. Not for the connections, because she had none, and not for the finances, because of the same situation. But there was something that made her special, something that he couldn't pinpoint. It was rare that he let himself go, that he let himself fall back into instinct and did what his body wanted; but that was what Dolly made him want to do.

He could keep the feeling in check, easily, as he had been. But upon hearing of Brett Flannigan's interest in her, his first instinct was to rip his face off and shove it so far up his ass that his eyeballs touched his uvula. However, a master of self-control, he did not call for his Klokateers to kidnap the man so that said actions could occur, which were very much in his power.

His phone rang, and he was quick to pick it up, "Charles Offdensen... Yes, the Snakes n' Barrels documentary, I have heard ah, mentions of it... A reunion? I'll ask Pickles as soon as I can..."

...

Ah the ending to yet another chapter 3 As much as I would love to write Dolly's reactions to every episode, I'm going to have to pick and choose. I'm going to narrow it down to 3-5 episodes (not including the last of the season), and I'd love to get some input from you guys. So reviews, messages, anything on your opinion of which episodes I should write into the fic would be awesomely amazing :3

Thanks again for reading!


	11. When All Else Fails, Hold Her Hair

Hi everyone! I've been getting a couple reviews that want me to continue this series, so I'm going to try really hard to do so. I enjoy this series a lot too, I've just been off-my-ass busy for... my god, nearly a year and a half. I'll do my best to continue updating, even if it takes me another year.

**Deth, Come Near Me**

**Canto 11: When All Else Fails, Hold Her Hair**

No one saw Dolly the day of the Dethklok Convention of Appreciation Elite Class Convention. Three hours before it began, a couple Klokateers found her fast asleep in her room, completely unprepared. They quickly roused her and rushed her to her designated make-up artists, who were entirely disgusted by her disheveled appearance. Hastily, they threw her into a shower, pulled her out, and began her make-up and outfit. The make-up artists ordered the Klokateers to get the selection of dresses she had gone shopping for, and they ran off to grab them.

"Look up towards the ceiling without moving your face, sweetheart." The only male make-up artist said sweetly. She hadn't spoken a word to any of them the entire time, and while the female make-up artists took her anti-verbosity as malicious or vindictive, the male make-up artist thought it was mysterious, and in fact appreciated it; gabby clients could be such a hassle.

The Klokateers came back with the three dresses, and the artists were surprised with the quality and beauty of her picks. However, they noticed some like-terms between them, like the low cuts in the back, the small jewels just below the waist, and the bright and eye-catching colors, as the essential attributes to dresses enjoyed by the partners of Brett Flannigan. And it was for this reason that the make-up artists chose the bright blue dress that accentuated all of these attributes for Dolly to wear. They quickly slipped her into it, and shoved some shoes onto her feet, before giving her back to the Klokateers.

By the time they were done, the convention had just started, and the Klokateers quickly hurried her down the halls of Mordhaus to the main Gala hall. They quickly tapped the announcing Klokateer on the shoulder and pointed at Dolly, standing as still as a board. The announcer quickly cleared his throat:

"**Announcing, Lady Dolly Codling."**

Lights.

Cameras.

_Action_.

It was five hours to show time, and Offdensen strategically scrambled to get together the last-minute touches on the convention. This part he was particularly good at, and since the Appreciation Conventions were always funded by outside sources, he was always in a great mood for them. AKA, one might just see something of a smile on his lips, deep into the night, once he's had a couple glasses of brandy in his system for a while.

Periodically, he would send out teams of Klokateers to each of the boy's rooms to check that they were, at the very least, awake and aware of what was going on. All drugs were removed from their rooms, though they were each allowed a bottle of whatever alcohol they wanted until the beginning of the convention. This left them buzzed, awake, satisfied and open enough to new ideas that they would allow themselves to be put in tuxedos for the night.

As an offhanded thought, Offdensen sent a couple Klokateers to Dolly's room to make sure that she was getting ready on schedule. However, he wasn't expecting for her to not even be awake, none the less completely unprepared. He had them rush her to her make-up artists as quickly as they could and wake her up when she got there; he was in no mood to be kind and considerate.

Offdensen made his way into the ballroom, sparkling and beautiful with its ice statues of dead women and slow-roasted pigs shimmering with grease. He quickly crossed its expanses and peeked outside:

Throngs of rich and famous entrepreneurs and business men and women of all sorts were lined up in their most expensive cars, surrounded by common folk who were being kept off by thousands of Klokateers, lined up like barriers. Offdensen looked back inside, where the last of the silver utensils were being set up on the tables. He quickly checked his watch: 6:45, 15 minutes until the convention began, and he saw the five boys stumble into the hall. After getting them to look a little less drunk (because of course, they had to have extra stashes of booze in rooms other than their own and no one could've possibly found them all), Offdensen had the doors opened promptly at 7.

The rich and magnificent poured in; jewels and greedy eyes glistening brightly as they all quickly sauntered into the ballroom as the Announcer Klokateer quickly named them all off. The chamber orchestra in the corner started up with some quick, lively Mozart as they all finally made it into the ballroom, Offdensen standing at the podium.

He cleared his throat, "It's ah, good to see everyone here tonight. As you can see, your ah, gracious donations of $100,000 or more have not gone to waste. We are here to celebrate the continuing success of Dethklok, perhaps the must affluent band in the world. In the coming evening, there will be dancing, eating, drinking, merry-making, and all of you will be invited to stay late and see Dethklok's latest projects in action. Thank you, and let the Dethklok Convention of Appreciation Elite Class Convention begin."

Eighty-Five percent of the guests headed for the booze, because everyone knew that Dethklok's Appreciation Conventions were always more fun when you were just a little bit tipsy...

A note from the Announcer Klokateer's trumpet sounded, and he announced one last name:

"**Announcing, Lady Dolly Codling.**"

All eyes were on the door. Everyone had heard about the fabled Dolly Codling; she had been all over the news the year before, and then suddenly disappeared. However, it seemed that she had returned to the ranks of Dethklok, and here she was, about to walk into their midst and perhaps reveal her secrets about her secret power over the greatest metal band of all time.

Her entrance was not disappointing.

A light blue high-heel slid into view, followed by a pale leg silhouetted in a Maya blue dress, a hand with a single silver ring and two silver bangles, and a pair of hips clutched by a bodice perfectly cut for her body. Her visible eye shimmered dully in the light as she paused and scanned over the guests, staring jealously or admiringly at her. She curtsied carefully, said not a word, and continued to walk slowly in.

The chamber orchestra started up again, and most people returned to their various activities. However, there were a few whose eyes still lingered on Dolly, including those of one Mr. Offdensen. He had seen her go from fiery little bass teacher, to fat ass hangout bro, to blubbering mess, to recovered saint, and now this... He didn't even know what to call this. This was something he had never expected. She was careful, quiet, calm, she didn't even look at the alcohol, and to top it all off, she looked beautiful.

He couldn't help himself; he had to go speak to her...

Unfortunately, someone got to her first.

Brett Flannigan was quickly at Dolly's side, an arm outstretched, and she quickly but gracefully grasped it, giving him a modest smile before allowing him to lead her away to who knew where.

Offdensen finished his brandy and went for another.

"My goodness, Miss _Dolly Codling_," Brett said, emphasis on the name he didn't know until just moments ago, "You look stunning in that dress."

"Thank you..." She said quietly, placidly sipping a glass of water and staring off into the distance.

Brett couldn't believe it; this wasn't the over-excitable young girl he had met before. She was mysterious, hidden; perhaps he had broken through her shell before but it was up again and she had turrets on them this time, making it harder for people to get through. She was going to be a challenge, that was for sure.

But that was more enticing to Brett than anything else.

Brett Flannigan was a big time producer in Hollywood, and spent most of his days either producing or canoodling with girls of all sorts; he was like Skwisgaar minus the G-Milfs. Very rarely did he get turned down, and when he did get turned down, it was only because he was a rather sloppy drunk and people tended to shy away from him when he started spouting about all the STIs he could've gotten. However, whenever he met a girl as mysterious, beautiful and hidden as this one, he became excited, and leapt to the top of his game.

But first, he needed to get her to look him in the eye.

He sat down in front of her with his own drink, as he talked to her about all his fundraising in the educational business, his help in the war-torn country of Darfur and his newest movie coming out. As he spoke, she didn't even glance over at him, instead choosing to stare out at the barren wasteland surrounding Mordhaus.

As his speech became a little less subtle and a little more sensual, he reached out to brush her hair from her eyes, his fingertips skimming the downy-soft, uppermost layers-

She slapped his hand away, without explanation. He was taken aback, but quickly apologized for being to brash. She simply shook her head and finally looked at him, insisting that it was all right, but asked him not to do that again.

Across the room, Offdensen snickered into his third glass of brandy as he watched from the corner of his eye. A very fat and very rich woman and her husband had enveloped him into a corner as they spoke of all their Dethklok endeavors, and he nodded and replied to their inquiries with short, blunt answers.

Brett then offered Dolly his hand, perhaps to go dance to the slow waltz that the chamber orchestra was playing. Dolly finished her water and took his hand, silently agreeing.

Offdensen's glass ruptured and broke in his hand, surprising the fat woman and her husband. They called someone to come clean it up as Offdensen excused himself and stalked off to the boys; his boys, perhaps his only source of true companionship. And of course, as expected, they were all drinking.

Offdensen was happy to join them, to their surprise and amusement.

"Brett Flannigan, huh?" Pickles muttered, taking a swig of vodka. "Slimy bastard jest had to pop up eventually."

"Look at him." Nathan growled. "He has the kind of sweet... angelic... beautiful face that you just want to cave in with a bowling ball. Who gives a shit that Dolly likes him; of course she'd fuck him. _Anyone_ would fuck him. But dear god... I had no idea that someone could infuriate me as much as he does."

The band members gave a silent agreement and drank. Offdensen didn't say a word, as usual, though he had to admit that he was on Nathan's side with that argument. None of them said anything when Brett led Dolly out to the dance floor, and she held onto him for dear life as they slow danced. People actually cleared the way for them as they swung back and forth to the slow triplets that hung in the air around them. Her eye was closed as she stepped in threes, and Brett seemed beyond pleased.

It came as no surprise that he took that opportunity to kiss her.

However, it did come as a surprise when Dolly pressed her fingertips to his chest and pushed him away, quickly excusing herself and walking out of the ballroom. The doors opened for her, and Offdensen watched through the thinning crack in the doors as she yanked off her shoes, turned, and tore down the hallway.

Bewildered, Offdensen excused himself from the company of his boys, and followed after the girl. He heard the gentle tinkling of the jewels on her dress and followed quickly after them to one of the generic hallway bathrooms. He looked in gingerly, to see her sitting in front of the toilet bowl, crouched over, vomiting her guts out. He was still a little confused; she hadn't touched anything remotely alcoholic.

She heard him at the door, coughed up the last bit of vomit, and croaked out, "Who's there...?"

Offdensen cleared his throat, "It's ah... me."

She groaned, "Please go away... I don't want you to have to see me like this. I feel sick as a dog, and I probably look like one too."

However, he walked in and sat next to her, smoothing her hair back and holding it as another wave of nausea crashed over her and she vomited again. She breathed heavily, he breaths reverberating against the walls of the toilet bowl. Forced tears ran down her cheeks, bringing her make-up with them.

"Guh..." She gagged a little before finally spitting out the last of the vomit. She looked at Offdensen and wiped some throw-up from her lips, "Thanks..."

"Are you sick?" He asked.

She shook her head and sighed, "I'm so ashamed of myself... I spent the entire day drinking wine before coming here. I didn't eat anything, so you can imagine how much my head is pounding right now..."

"You didn't look drunk or hung-over earlier."

"You wanna know why I was walking so slowly and why I wasn't talking? Dude, Offdensen, I swear to god, if I spoke more than a couple words back there, I would've barfed all over the place. I was being quiet and slow because I was in _pain_..." She blinked. "I didn't look like an idiot, did I?"

Offdensen shook his head and removed his hand from her slightly vomited-on tresses, "Not in the least. In fact, ah, the main adjective going around for you was mysterious."

Dolly barked a laugh, "_Mysterious?_ That's a hoot if I ever heard one. The only thing I could think of what I was walking was _'Please god don't let me vomit or piss all over myself'..._ Disgusting, I'll admit, but it helped."

"... Why ah, why were you drinking so much?"

Dolly hid behind the toilet, "Don't be angry with me... I'm just terrified of that guy Flannigan. I can't stand the way he looks at me; and when he told me straight up earlier that he wanted to have sex with me, I wanted to cry... I can't stand it when men ask for sex like that. So I tried to get too drunk to come to the convention, but I can see now that you already have no tolerance for that..."

And then it happened: Offdensen's lips curved into a tiny smile and he chuckled just a little bit. He stood up and offered the dumbstruck Dolly a hand, which she gladly took as he hoisted her up. She washed the vomit out of the ends of her hair and wiped the make-up from her cheeks while asking with a smile, "Why are you laughing at me?"

"... You remind me of the boys."

Dolly laughed, "I guess I would laugh at me too, then. We can do the whole 'One person goes in 5 minutes after the other' thing so no one thought we ran off to have a quickie in the bathroom."

Offdensen just took her arm after she put on her shoes and shook his head, "What they think of me is no consequence tonight."

Dolly smiled, endlessly grateful. She brushed herself off, dabbed at the runaway mascara with some tissues and took a deep breath, nodding at Offdensen before they returned to the ballroom.

The ballroom buzzed with excitement after the manager of Dethklok ran after the mysterious woman. Could they be lovers? Could Flannigan have put a wrench in Offdensen's plans to woo her? Could she have been in a secret relationship with Flannigan?

No one knew, and oddly, the only people who were slightly more knowledgeable than anyone else was, perhaps for the first time, Dethklok. They didn't think on it much, but the way Offdensen ran out after Dolly... It was just extraordinary.

"Think they're boning?" Murderface asked offhandedly, hiding the fact that he was interested.

Skwisgaar shrugged, "No ideas. He ams kind of a robots; maybe she ams into de kinky stuffs."

Nathan shook his head, "Don't you think we would've noticed if they were screwing? Besides, Offdensen tells us _everything_. He wouldn't fuck our best friend who also happens to be very pretty lady behind our backs. He's not a dick like that."

The other members of Dethklok agreed silently, and the trumpets blared as Offdensen and Dolly returned, arm in arm. Everyone in the room stopped and stared; what an odd pair they made. Almost all of them had followed the dealings with Dolly little more than a year ago, and her reappearance into Dethklok's lives was huge news, especially since she had found herself big in the Swedish music scene. She was the exact opposite of Offdensen, and yet there they stood, together.

Across the room, a disgruntled Brett Flannigan watched as the pair crossed the room, a smile playing across Dolly's lips.

'_Conniving bitch.'_ He thought, a couple rich women cooing reassurances at him. When she pushed him away, he could only stand there in shock as she rushed away like Cinderella, though she hadn't left him for her carriage, she left him for _Offdensen_, one of the coldest, most business oriented people he knew.

Flannigan stared at Offdensen; a couple older men had approached him and Dolly and they were conversing. Offdensen had that typical calculating look on his face, always cold, always withdrawn and yet charismatic at the same time. Dolly spoke after him, and the old men laughed. Flannigan then saw something he never thought he would:

Offdensen's lips curved upward into what one could call a smile. Did he like this girl? This odd, bipolar, strange little girl who popped in and out of Mordhaus like a cuckoo clock? In his anger, Brett squeezed his glass of water in frustration, though he did not crack it. He stood and, at the protest of the ladies around him, walked out to the veranda and refused to go back inside like a spoilt child.

The night passed without further conflict, and Offdensen and Dolly stayed within close proximity of each other the entire time. If their arms weren't locked, then they were standing within feet of each other. Whispers flew across the room about possible engagement plans for the two, arguments about who would throw them the best engagement party, the best wedding, the best honeymoon. Of course, the two of them heard every word, and simply ignored the talk whilst at the same time laughing at the idea of the two of them being married.

And finally, in the dead of night, when not even the yard wolves howled, Dethklok took the stage. Offdensen and Dolly took their seats up near the front, Brett Flannigan just behind them.

Just before the show started, Dolly leaned over and whispered _'Thank you'_ into Offdensen's ear. He turned and nodded a little; Brett fumed. He hated being stood up, but for that passionless robotic loser? Never. That Dolly girl wounded his pride, and if it were the last thing he would do, he'd wound her back.

Dethklok played a fantastic show, and as many of the women filed backstage to meet with Dethklok, Dolly and Charles slipped away to a small balcony at the end of the ballroom.

Dolly grinned, "Thank you so much, Mr. Offdensen... I don't think I've ever had this much fun in my entire life!"

"Your happiness seems to make Dethklok happy so I'm ah, glad to hear that." Charles replied stiffly.

She shrugged, "Whatever the reasoning, you've made me very happy tonight... I thought I would be especially unhappy after the Klokateers pulled me out of bed to come here, but you saved me." She smiled back at him, "I don't think people tell you that enough. You're underappreciated, you know that?"

"I do, perhaps more so than necessary." Though it was a somber statement, Offdensen's face did not give way to any particular emotion.

"Well..." Dolly quickly kissed his cheek, "I appreciate you more than you know. You've done more for me than anyone in the entire world, even if it was all for Dethklok's benefit. I'm indebted to you, I metaphorically kiss your feet."

"Only metaphorically?"

Dolly laughed and lightly punched his shoulder, "For now~"

Things were about to go awkwardly silent between them, but a resounding explosion cut off the awkwardness as body parts flew across the room. Quick as a flash, Charles was at the stage, where the bomb had gone off. The boys of Dethklok, all fine, stared at the carnage with distant but interested looks.

"Brutal." Nathan said, taking a bite out of a Popsicle that seemed to come out of nowhere.

"What happened?" Offdensen asked, quickly looking over the boys, who were all quite well with Popsicles in hand.

"Some guys wants our autograbbits so he comes up on de stage, but whens he reaches to his pockets, he pulls out a littles metal pins insteads of a pen!" Toki said, tapping his head. "He tinks we stupids or something! We can'ts writes autogramophones wit' de metal pins! So we has Klokateers tackle him... And den deys all explode. It's funny, haha!"

Offdensen raised an eyebrow and turned to look at the pile of dead bodies, accumulatively having a giant, gory hole in the middle of them, and sighed. And the night was going so well, too...

'_... and Madam, you are tactless and without shame. Your lack of sympathy towards the social hierarchy of the world's economy is staggering. Running from man to man is not something a woman of your current rank and place should be doing, and neither Offdensen nor I should be forced to be caught up in your web of lies and pleasures. _

_Good day, Lady Dolly Codling. You'll not be hearing from me again.'_

A couple frustrated tears stained the letter as Dolly crumpled it in her hands and tossed it into her fireplace. In order to create himself as the victim in the supposed "scandle" during the Appreciation Convention, Flannigan sent Dolly a scathing and insulting letter, as well as sending it to the press a couple days after the Convention. They ate it up. She couldn't leave Mordhaus without being bombarded by questions about her alleged _dealings_ with Flannigan and Offdensen. The media painted her either a high-class mistress to the rich, or a lowbrow skank.

Either way, Dolly became deeply depressed by this, and hid away in Mordhaus. Offdensen, without the time to sit with Dolly and help her through her time of need (he wasn't really sure he could; emotionality wasn't his shtick), he had a couple female Klokateers around her to make sure she didn't do anything stupid. It was especially bad during Fan Day; somehow, she managed to fuel Dethklok's frustration over the day, and instead of doing what they should've and sitting on display for the fans to see, they sat around a table and bitched at each other.

She got poor Nathan to drink so much the night before, that he vomited blood the next morning... His liver transplant didn't go too well either.

Beyond irked at Dolly's sudden destructive nature, Offdensen calls Dolly into his office the day after Fan Day. She drags herself in and slumps into the seat in front of Offdensen's desk, childishly refusing to look him in the eye.

"Why are you doing this, Dolly?" Offdensen asked, his arms crossed.

"Because." She answered.

"Because why?"

"I don't know."

"Then why don't you stop?"

"Because I don't want to."

That was the last straw. Offdensen stood up, grabbed Dolly by the collar of her shirt and threw her to the ground. Shocked, Dolly finally met his eyes, and recoiled when she saw them smoldering with something vicious.

"Stop being such a child!" He snapped. "I've come to expect something better of you, Dolly. I thought you were better at using your head than the boys were, but apparently I was wrong. You've been the worst kind of instigator. Making the boys upset, making them angry; Nathan got _another _liver transplant because of you! So you got some hate mail; you're going to let one letter, one person's perception of you, change the way you operate? What does that make you? That makes you putty in their hands, that makes you weak, that makes you worse than the boys. At least they don't cave to pressure. If this is the way you're going to act from now on, you can go back to Sweden. Maybe the boys will be better off without you this time."

Throughout the speech, Dolly let a couple tears run down her face, tinged pink with embarrassment and shame. But at the end, she couldn't hold it in, and sobbed. Offdensen stared down at her without flinching, waiting for her to say something.

"I'm so sorry..." She sputtered. "I really don't know why I've been so stupid the past week or so... I just got so angry! I wanted to take it out on anyone else, anyone that would swallow it, I didn't... I just wanted someone to hug me and tell me that I wasn't those things, that I wasn't as pathetic as I felt... I _hate _myself for it; I had no idea that Nathan would have to get a _liver transplant_, which killed me..." She whimpered, eye red and puffy. "I'm so sorry..."

She pulled her legs to her chest and continued to cry, murmuring apologies. Offdensen sighed and shook his head, "Next time, just tell me. In case you haven't noticed, nobody does anything alone around here."

She sniffled and looked up at him, "... You do."

Offdensen cracked a little bit of a smile, "If you would grow up, maybe I wouldn't have to."

Dolly laughed, wiping the tears from her cheeks, "Seriously Mr. Offdensen... I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Neither do I." He offered her a hand, she took it, and he hoisted her up. "Now ah... If you'd like, I could ah... give you that hug—"

She threw her arms around his torso, and he hesitantly patted her back. She snuggled her nose into the folds of his suit jacket, breathing deeply and sighing, "Like I said, you have no idea how much I appreciate you..."

'_Likewise...'_ He thought, continuing to pat her back...


	12. And Sometimes, She Thanks You

And another one! Yup, on a roll. Please enjoy!

**Deth, Come Near Me**

**Canto 12: And Sometimes, She Thanks you**

"He held your hair back while you vomited? Dolly, my darling, that is the epitome of modern chivalry. Marry that man." Maggie laughed as the two of them walked down the streets of Paris. After Skwisgaar had a violent allergic reaction to the cilantro in the barbeque sauce Nathan had an endorsement deal with, the band decided to take a break while he recovered. Dolly had Maggie flown to Mordhaus, and from there a couple Klokateers flew the two of them out to Paris for the weekend.

Maggie, nearly fluent in French, got the two of them into private parties and exclusive clubs. And when the hosts of said parties and clubs realized who Dolly was, they were invited into the VIP sections and offered thousand-dollar booze and the best pot money could buy.

Needless to say, the two of them partied their asses right off.

On Sunday morning (though it was just barely morning, the time being 11:49 AM), Dolly groggily woke up in a pale-lit hotel room, Egyptian cotton sheets - with thread counts too high to bother counting - on the floor next to her. An empty bottle of very old red wine sat next to her. Maggie was curled up in the sheets on the floor, still snoring the morning away.

Dolly, in extremely broken French, ordered room service to bring them their strongest aspirin, a couple warm baguettes and a huge slab of butter. The sound of the door opening woke Maggie up, and the two girls sat on the King sized bed, trying to remember what happened the night before as they munched on baguettes and butter.

"Coincidentally..." Maggie started, licking butter from her fingers. "Elof just arrived in Paris this morning. He's chaperoning a group of underprivileged children interested in art for charity. We should meet up with him; he'll be at the Louvre this afternoon."

Dolly laughed, "No wonder you wanted to come to France... Yeah, sure, I'd love to see him."

They opened up their closet, which contained a myriad of colorful pleated dresses, thin belts meant to tie at the waist, and big floppy sun hats. In their outfits, they looked like sisters. Maggie let her golden hair fly loose while Dolly pulled hers into a side ponytail, and together they felt like nymphs, soaking up the sun like that was all they needed to survive. They felt like everything was right with the world.

Offdensen sat in his office, the fire crackling next to him. It was dark, save the fire, and the shadows wriggled against the opposite wall. Offdensen was signing papers, and though he could scribble signatures in his sleep, he found himself awake and thinking about matters that, for once, didn't have to do with work. Or Dethklok. Or stocks or bonds or the exponential growth of the interest of all his bank accounts...

He was thinking about her. That was that: he wanted Dolly, and he knew why too. He knew he could never have her, so he wanted her. Whenever barriers are put up in front of human beings, it was human nature to try and tear them down. Now, it wasn't like Charles Offdensen was beating at the barrier, screaming and crying for what, or who, was on the other side. He had better things to do. But sometimes, out of the corner of his eye, he would stare at her through the invisible barrier and fantasize about what could happen.

But still, Charles Offdensen is a thinking man, and he tended to think further than just fantasies. What would he do with her after he had her?

He felt like he was a dog chasing a car; what would the dog do with the car if he ever caught it? He wouldn't imagine the two of them diving into a relationship, that was much too complicated and he wouldn't have real time to commit. However, at that point, he couldn't imagine _not_ having her around. Sometimes he felt like a proud father, like when he watched her at the convention. Or sometimes, he felt like a stalker, or a prospective rapist, watching her in her room. But there was always something that made him feel like he couldn't tear himself away from her, and at those and very few other times was Charles Offdensen truly afraid of himself, of what he could do, of what would happen to either of them.

It was the sensation he had never felt before with his other partners, and if what he had with them was love, he could only call his feelings towards Dolly lust. Lust for her, for her mind, her soul, her bones, her flesh, her eyes (though one was gone, he found that extremely charming), her tears, her happiness, her sorrow... It was foreign to him, but at the same time innate and without explanation as to why he felt the way he did. He could only attribute it to human nature, shrug, and continue on with his life...

But he couldn't continue. Not like he used to. He never understood why people let their love lives conflict with all their other lives. But now he did. Thinking about the person you lust after: it makes time come to a stop, and you can only imagine their flesh against yours, melting like putty on a hot day, and it's a thought that captures you entirely.

Charles Foster Offdensen had a very strict daily routine. He ate at the same time every day, exercised at the same time, worked at the same time. He had never missed a meal, a work out, a deadline...

And as soon as he managed to snap himself out of the trance he fell into, he realized that he had missed breakfast.

As Dolly stared at the Mona Lisa, her floppy hat in hand, she couldn't help but see a little Offdensen in her: her quiet, knowing smile, low-lidded eyes, hands folded calmly in her lap. How Leonardo managed to capture such a telling moment was absolutely beyond her.

As Dolly stared, Maggie and Elof talked in hushed voices, the 10 through 16 year olds Elof was watching sitting together nearby, tired and drinking water.

"Hows Dolly doings?" Elof asked.

"Much better than last time she was in Mordhaus. I think since she had time to rediscover herself, she's been holding herself to higher expectations than she used to." Maggie smiled. "She and Mr. Offdensen seem to have become quite close."

Elof downed a discarded glass of wine someone had left from the tour before them, and sighed, "I, like the rest of the worlds, saw and heard the commentarys on that Dethklok Convention. So whats if dey hads a couple drinks togethers? Doesn't means they are 'buddies' or any'ting."

Maggie shook her head, "Au contraire, mon ami. They've always had an odd relationship, but it seems to finally be leveling out. The two of them actually spend time together. She has to make an appointment in order to see him, sure, but apparently they have some very good talks. And you MUST have noticed how much Kenneth looks like Offdensen. My god, they could be twins."

Elof rolled his eyes, "They's both 'Everyman's. They have a very generics looks about dems. "

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that..."

After the Louvre, Dolly and Maggie treated Elof's 15 charity children to sandwiches and coffee (though some of the younger ones were more partial to milk). They all sat in the park, giggling and having a good time. A couple of the older children were sketching Maggie and Dolly, and presented their finished sketches to them when they had to part ways. The two women were flattered, and Dolly asked if she could keep hers. The 15 year old girl who sketched her agreed, and Dolly returned to her room, a beautiful sketch of her retying her hair into a side ponytail, her eyes down, legs tucked beneath her, big floppy hat to her side.

Klokateers met Dolly and Maggie outside the hotel.

Dolly smiled, "Hello Roth." She said, happy to have committed the way Roth the Klokateer walked to memory. "Time to go already?"

He nodded, "I am afraid so, Miss Dolly. It appears someone has been embezzling money from the company, and while Mr. Offdensen does not suspect you, he has requested all residents of Mordhaus return immediately."

"Fiddlesticks." Dolly said, and then caught herself. "I mean, Jesus fucking Christ." She had gotten used to censoring herself for the children, and hadn't even noticed that she wasn't cursing until Maggie gave her a look.

They returned Maggie to Stockholm, and flew back to Mordhaus. Dolly was dropped off at her room, where she threw all her things onto the bed and was about to sit down, when—

"**NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"**

Nathan's bellow echoed throughout the house, and Dolly knew exactly where they were... two rooms down from her. Her ears rang as she got up and walked the two yards to one of the Mordhaus sitting rooms.

"Gentlemen." She said, her pinky in one of her ears. "I'm going to assume you were just informed of the embezzling issue."

"Dolly, god damn it, if you and your sunny dress and golden cheeks took my fucking money, I will end you." Nathan growled.

Dolly smiled, "Don't worry, I've only been spending the stipend Mr. Offdensen has been so kind to give me each month. Any extra money I don't spend goes right back into Dethklok. I was just informed of the problem as well, and I came back to help suss out a solution."

"Dolly, if I were to say 'Cinnamon buns' to you right now, what would you say?" Pickles shot the question at her.

"I would say... 'Holy shit that's a great idea, I'm going to go get one right now.'" Dolly said.

"If only I weren't too drunk, I could've just made some money off ya." Pickles shook his head and continued muttering 'too drunk, just too drunk...'.

Dolly looked at Offdensen, "Did you actually need my help with anything, or am I here just for decoration?"

Offdensen adjusted his glasses, "Unless you have your PhD in Accounting, you're only as useful as a potted plant."

Dolly laughed, "Ooh, you're mean today. Maybe we can go somewhere else, and I can adjust my petals so I don't clash with the scenery? The least this potted plant can do is help you come up with ideas."

Offdensen nodded, "I'll be in my office."

Offdensen left, and Dolly turned to the five boys. Murderface, the entire time, had been pelvic thrusting with his new diamond-encrusted codpiece. Nathan's wide fist crushed dozens of watches, and Pickles crushed a couple underfoot. Skwisgaar got up and strode over to Dolly.

"You look much better, Skwisgaar." Dolly said, looking the fully healed guitarist over. "That bloated thing did not look good on you."

"Yeahs well... Tanks for sittings wit' me whiles de doctors gave me shots." Skwisgaar muttered under his breath. "I hates dos tings."

Dolly smiled, "Not a problem. It sucks being in pain with no one to hold your hand, I get it."

"Dollys and Skwiiiiisgaar sittings in a tree, K-S-I-M-O-F-E." Toki crooned.

"Toki, what were you trying to spe—?" And then she noticed the green, vibrating dildo he had strapped on. "... Never mind. I don't... Wow. I'm gonna go."

Dolly wandered out, her face in her palm, leaving Toki slanging his new strap-on around. She made a bee-line for Offdensen's office, and knocked.

"Enter."

Dolly opened the door and shut it behind her, "Who would be embezzling from Dethklok?"

Offdensen looked up from the file in front of his, glasses slightly low on his nose. He closed his eyes, sighed, and pushed his glasses back to the bridge of his nose, "I'm beginning to get an idea, but nothing solid. Whoever's doing it, is taking large amounts of money from our accounts in undisclosed locations. As soon as I pinpoint where all of this is happening, I'll be able to get a better idea of who is doing it."

Dolly took off her shoes and put them next to the fireplace, "Has this not happened before? You do have quite a few people who have access to high profile accounts."

"Yes but it's usually obvious who the embezzler is." Offdensen said as Dolly walked over to him. Her toenails shone black, freshly manicured in Paris just hours before. She sat down on the desk and looked down at him as he leaned back and continued to talk. "People have illegally removed money from our accounts and blown it all on lottery tickets or blackjack. Those are easy cases, but wherever these people are blowing the money this time, is not an accredited establishment."

"Are there any new titty bars that just opened up?" Dolly asked.

"Well yes, there's—" Offdensen paused. He quickly reopened the file and looked over the information once more. The withdrawal was made right about the time that the new bar "Girls and Boobs" (a rather unsexy, unsubtle but highly popular name) had opened. The boys had been excited, and had gone more than once per day. Offdensen hadn't realized that they had completely skipped the singles and had gone straight to stuffing hundred dollar bills into stripper thongs.

He sat back and looked at Dolly, "How did you know?"

She smiled, "I figured you would get it pretty soon, but I wanted to get this one."

Offdensen chuckled. Light streamed through the window. It was a beautiful sunny day, Dolly's black toenail polish shining bright in the sunlight. With the last problem of the day solved in record time, all that was left was the Employee Evaluation Conference Conference and Raffle.

"We have about 30 minutes before the Conference Conference begins... Did you want to get some coffee before we start?" Offdensen asked.

Dolly smiled and shook her head, "I'm going to go change before I head over to the... Ballroom 7, right?"

"Yes. Don't be late."

Dolly nodded, and left the room. Clouds soon drifted in the way of the light, and the room darkened. Offdensen put away the file, and punched a couple numbers into the keypad on his phone.

"Number 2, tell 4, 5 and 8 to meet in the basement after the Conference Conference. I need to blow off some steam."

The clock struck 7:01, and Dolly cursed, pulling her black boot on over her jeans as she hopped to the door. She would be late, but she could blame it on someone. All the Klokateers were at the meeting, and the usually busy halls were empty and quiet. Underneath her, Dolly could hear the grumble of the slow rotating gears grinding against each other in the underbelly of Mordhaus. She had been down there once before, seen the massive gears working. It was awe-inspiring, but she hadn't thought about that time in over a year, and it made her shudder. She had lost her eye that day, but gained so much.

The flat sole of her boot squeaked on the floors beneath her as she jogged towards Ballroom number... 5? 9?

... 7.

It was 7.

She laughed; didn't want to be even more late because her short term memory suck-

She heard someone at the other end of the hall. A Klokateer was going in the wrong direction, towards Ballroom 4.

"Excuse me!" She called. He came to a quick stop and turned to face her. She jogged up to him, "You're going the wrong way, the ballroom is to your—"

Quick as a flash, he gripped the knife at his side and took a swing at her. It barely missed, but she crashed to the ground, right on her hip. It didn't take another second before she was back on her feet and booking it down the closest hallway. He could hear him coming after her; he was angry, heaving with rage. Offdensen had warned her about this: either he was a Klokateer gone mad or an assassin disguised as a Klokateer. In any case, she was in trouble, and he was gaining on her.

"HEEELP!" She screamed, skidding and turning another corner. Ballroom 7 was back the way she came, but that was where he was coming from. Dolly quickly hopped over one more corner, where a row of doors leading to various janitor closets were laid out. She quickly jumped into one, quietly closed to door, and hid behind a trashcan. She heard him running by the door, and didn't waste any time taking her chance and running in the opposite direction.

She made it to the ballroom, where thousands of people were there specifically to help her. She wrapped her hands around the door handle, the blood pulsing in her ears deafening her to the pounding footsteps that followed her, and with all her strength she pulled...

_**click**_

... Locked.

The door was locked.

Dolly's eye widened so much she feared her skin would tear. She looked back and saw the menacing figure at the end of the hallway, and she bolted to her left, to the only place she could imagine being safe otherwise: Offdensen's office. Her legs burned, the soles of her feet were sore, and her breath was beginning to labor. Adrenaline commanded her limbs as she ran and grabbed hold of the handle to Offdensen's office, gravity slingshotting her forward as the sinews in her arm tore. She sucked in air through her teeth, gripped her eyes shut and pulled...

It opened!

She quickly threw herself into the room, running to his desk and rummaging through it to find the gun he had leant her all those years ago. He always kept one in case of emergencies, and Dolly considered her predicament quite an emergency...

"... Number 216!" Offdensen read off the number on the raffle ticket. The midget 216 pelvic trusted his way onto the stage, taking his prize and boasting "Suck it, bitches!" before strapping it on and pelvic thrusting his merry way back into the crowd.

"Thank you for attending and participating in this years Employee Evaluation Conference Conference and Raffle. Please enjoy the beverages and return to your duties. Thank you." The crowd cheered as Dethklok and Offdensen left the stage. The doors to the ballroom were unlocked and the six of them walked out.

"What happened to Dolly? I thchought were we going tcho make her wear the codpiesche..." Murderface asked, drifting into a fantasy that it was Dolly pelvic thrusting with the codpiece and not the midget.

"I suppose she was busy." Offdensen replied, though a little annoyed himself. He returned to his office, to find...

"Hm. No wonder you didn't make the ah... Conference Conference."

Dolly sat in his chair, her hair draped across the back as she finished off the bottle of brandy. She was sprinkled with blood, though her fists were drenched in the stuff. She lifted her head, her bad eye bruised just next to the scar. She smiled, dropping the gun on the table, its magazine spent.

"He attacked me. There's a very interesting watch on his wrist, if you wanted to take a look at it. While I refuse to apologize for shooting him nine times, I will apologize for the blood on the rug." She said, voice hoarse from screaming.

"Are you alright?" Offdensen asked, bypassing the body completely. She was acting cool, but he could feel her hands shake as he took the bottle from her.

"I'm fine. I'm not dead, so I consider that fine." She said. Without anything to grip, Dolly grasped her knees so tightly that she drew blood. Offdensen knew that feeling, and slowly took her hands in his.

"Let me get someone to take this body out of here, and then you can tell me what happened." He said slowly, looking her in the eye. She took a breath and nodded, squeezing his hands in hers.

And naturally, as if he had been doing it for years, even though he thought he had quashed all of his emotional instinct a long time ago, Offdensen wrapped his arm around her shoulders and kissed her forehead. Her shaking stopped, her heartbeat calmed, and Offdensen stepped outside of the office to make a few calls.

"The black eye? No, he didn't hit me. If he had, there would be less bruising and more... brains." Dolly said. She and Offdensen were sitting in big, comfortable chairs in front of his fireplace, brandies in hand. It was late, but they were still up talking.

"I was just stupid. After I finished the magazine, he was still moving. So I went over to him to stomp on his face until he stopped breathing, but I slipped in blood and bashed my face on the mantelpiece." She chuckled.

Offdensen smiled a little. Dolly, while unaccustomed with killing someone, was very aware of death in Mordhaus and was more prepared to actually kill than anyone normal that Offdensen could have imagined. Her feet were tucked underneath her, the brandy shimmering in her glass.

"You ah... did a good job, staying alive." Offdensen said, pouring himself a fifth glass of brandy. His eyesight started to become a little muddy. "I always knew you could take care of yourself, but clearly you can do more than just that."

Dolly lit up with a smile, "I can kill more people, if that makes you happy."

Offdensen shook his head, "I wouldn't make you do that. I employ people who are already unstable to do that sort of thing for me. I wouldn't want to put you in more dangerous positions. You've already proven yourself."

Dolly's smile went from bright and toothy, to small and thankful. "I don't feel like moving... Is it alright if I sleep in this chair tonight?"

"It's fine. However, I have a previous engagement I must get to... Would you like me to call for Number 63?"

Dolly shook her head, "Roth was hoping to win the diamond codpiece, so he's probably pretty upset right now... I think I'm okay. I'll just get some sleep and go back to things as normal in the morning."

Offdensen nodded his head, and moved towards the door...

"... Charles?"

He turned, "Ah... Dolly?"

"... Thank you."

"You're welcome."


End file.
